Science & Technology 2012 Archive | PBS NewsHour

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	2012 DECEMBER Dec. 27, 2012 Miles O'Brien: Crawling in Sewage, Cuddling With Dolphins in 2012 Over the past year, science correspondent Miles O'Brien has jogged, drank and slept on the job. Watch a highlights reel of his year of science reports.

	Dec. 26, 2012 Commentary: A Tech To-Do List for Washington in 2013 People often treat the gadgets, apps and digital services we rely on as if they sprang fully-formed from minds of engineers and developers. But the government has helped and hindered their advance over the last 40 years. Tech writer Rob Pegoraro wrote this guest blog.

	Dec. 20, 2012 Superheated Jet Dominates Black Hole A University of Maryland astrophysicist makes a discovery that could change the way we understand the behavior of black holes.

	Dec. 19, 2012 Research Chimps to Retire to Louisiana Sanctuary The NIH announced plans on Tuesday to move more than 100 chimpanzees from the New Iberia Research Center into retirement at Chimp Haven, a 200-acre chimpanzee sanctuary in Louisiana. It’s the latest in a series of moves to put the practice of chimp testing to an end — for good.

	Dec. 18, 2012 Why Diagnosing Adam Lanza Is a Problem Authorities are wrestling to understand what drove Adam Lanza to massacre 20 children and their guardians. While details of his mental state are unclear, many have said Lanza may have suffered from a mental illness like schizophrenia or a disorder like Asperger's. But the problem is these diagnoses are speculation.

	Dec. 17, 2012 A Dramatic End for the Twin Moon Spacecraft This artist's concept shows one of the GRAIL satellites inserting itself into orbit.

	Dec. 14, 2012 Meteor Shower Told in Tweets Nature put on a dazzling light show early Friday morning, and it's scheduled to deliver another tonight. Here's a look at the photos people have been snapping from their neighborhoods.

	Dec. 13, 2012 Scientists Say Bottoms Up to Find the Connection Between Genes and Addiction Scientists have not found one master alcoholism gene in DNA but rather several that may affect a person's susceptibility. Science correspondent Miles O'Brien goes under the influence to examine the genetic science behind alcoholism and other addictions, and how the answers point to great challenges in curing substance abuse.

	Dec. 13, 2012 Avoiding Addiction When It's in Your DNA To understand more about the link between addiction and genes, science correspondent Miles O'Brien drinks a mixture of 30 grams of pure ethanol and Diet Coke, the equivalent of three stiff drinks, and undergoes a series of tests.

	Dec. 12, 2012 In Cosmic Game of Billiards, What Are the Chances of an Asteroid Collision? There's been buzz in the news this week about two asteroids nearly sideswiping us. But just how close is 4.3 million miles, you know, cosmically? Are we in danger?

	Dec. 11, 2012 How to Protect Against the Dangers of Mobile Apps That Gather Kids' Data Investigations are underway to see if companies that make apps are violating the privacy rights of kids by collecting personal data and sharing it with advertisers. Ray Suarez talks to Jessica Rich of the Federal Trade Commission and the Association for Competitive Technology's Morgan Reed on how to ensure privacy for children.

	Dec. 10, 2012 Playing with Owl Puke, and Other Science Inspired Holiday Gifts Owls, like this one seen at an animal pet fair in Stuttgart, Germany, swallow their prey whole and then regurgitate what they can't digest.

	Dec. 7, 2012 Farewell, Little Space Spider Today, Lunch in the Lab mourns the loss of Nefertiti, the courageous space spider who soared into low-Earth orbit on a Japanese HTV spacecraft and spent three months hunting fruit flies aboard the International Space Station. She lived the fullest life a spider can live.

	Dec. 5, 2012 Coral Reefs and Shellfish Battle Acidifying Oceans The world's ocean are absorbing carbon dioxide at an unprecedented rate and the resulting acidification is already altering marine ecosystems. We look at how ocean acidification is affecting shellfish and coral reefs.

	Dec. 5, 2012 Ocean Acidification: The Other Carbon Problem Scientists call ocean acidification "the other carbon problem." When the ocean absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, it raises the pH of the water making it acidic. That shift makes sea animals' shell brittle, which makes a huge difference to the U.S. fishing industry.

	Dec. 5, 2012 The Internet Takeover That Never Was Delegates from 193 countries gathered in Dubai for the World Conference on International Telecommunications, an 11-day discussion on how to expand international regulations on Internet infrastructure. This potential expansion ignited a hot debate in the tech community over whether and how the Internet should be controlled.

	Dec. 5, 2012 Swarming Lights and Tadpole Trains Bring Public Transit to Life This week, a co-worker introduced me to a series of time-lapse animations that visualize a 24-hour stretch of public transit in various cities. Each color on the map corresponds to a bus, train or subway route. And even at 3 am, the city buzzes with activity.

	Dec. 3, 2012 Tiny Flying 'Bengal Tigers' invade Brooklyn For today's Lunch in the Lab, we look at the week's best science writing, rescued from my dog's jaws. Plus, the wall of the Grand Canyon, Northern California storms and a 36-year-old Twinkie.



	NOVEMBER Nov. 30, 2012 Grand Canyon May Be 60 Million Years Older Than Previously Thought A newly published study renews an old debate about the age of the Grand Canyon, positing a possibility that the geographical formation could be tens of millions of years older than current wisdom suggests, dating back to the time of dinosaurs. Margaret Warner talks to science correspondent Miles O'Brien about its significance.

	Nov. 30, 2012 Lunch in the Lab: Mars Rover Tells Fans to 'Chill'; Ice on Mercury Welcome to Lunch in the Lab, a virtual platter of science news. Consider this an excuse to waste your lunch on science. On the menu today: What scientists at NASA are saying you won't find on Mars and how ice arrived on Mercury.

	Nov. 29, 2012 Harsh Weather, Knee Injuries Didn't Stop Filmmaker from Chasing Glaciers After five years spent documenting the behavior of glaciers, photographer James Balog has concluded that the term "glacial pace" is an oxymoron. His teammates saw a chunk of ice roughly the size of southern Manhattan -- from 34th Street to Battery Park -- break free from the Ilulissat Glacier in Greenland and bob out to sea.

	Nov. 28, 2012 Einstein's Brain, Storms on Saturn and Bigfoot DNA Five years ago, while reviewing a paper that contained photographs of Albert Einstein's brain, anthropologist Dean Falk noticed something unusual: a knob-like feature jutting out in the part of the cortex that controls the fingers of the left hand.

	Nov. 26, 2012 Climate Summit Begins in Doha; Fiscal Cliff Could Mean Cuts to Science World leaders, climate scientists and activists are converging in oil-rich Qatar this week for the United Nations summit on climate change, as scientists warn that extreme weather events like Hurricane Sandy are likely to get increasingly more common.

	Nov. 21, 2012 Astronomers Spot Super-Jupiter; Cataloguing Bellybutton Ecosystems In today's Science Lunch roundup, we look at a newly discovered planet 13 times the size of Jupiter. It's so big researchers calling it a Super-Jupiter. Also a report on the mysterious deaths of Gulf dolphins and new project launched to catalog bellybutton ecosystems.

	Nov. 20, 2012 Engineers Consider Barriers to Protect New York From Another Sandy Hurricane Sandy escalated the discussion about how New York copes with rising water. One bold solution is to build storm surge barriers. Four engineering firms have already come up with unique models for various locations on New York's waterways.

	Nov. 20, 2012 Protecting New York From Future Superstorms as Sea Levels Rise As thousands of residents continue to clean up from Hurricane Sandy, many are anticipating future disasters and considering how New York will cope with rising seas and potentially more devastating flooding. Hari Sreenivasan reports on options like barriers that could protect the region from future storm surges.

	Nov. 19, 2012 SciDay: Climate Report So Bad That Future is 'Hard to Describe' A major new report by the World Bank predicts devastating malnutrition from depleted crop yields, and damaging floods due to sea level rise with the poorest nations at the most risk if temperatures warm by 4 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels.

	Nov. 15, 2012 Can Sleep Make You Smarter? Sleep deprivation can cause serious health and cognitive problems in humans. In short, it can make us fat, sick and stupid. But why do humans need so much sleep? Science correspondent Miles O'Brien talks to scientists on the cutting edge of sleep research and asks if there's any way humans might evolve into getting by with less.

	Nov. 15, 2012 'I'll Sleep When I'm Dead' ... And Other Myths How much sleep do we need? Can we cram the proverbial eight hours into six? Miles O'Brien will tackle these questions on tonight's NewsHour broadcast. But first, we take you behind the scenes and into the water for today's Science Thursday.

	Nov. 12, 2012 Hubble Reveals Star Cluster's Curious Insides The Hubble Space Telescope has captured this dazzling image of a far flung star cluster, located 25,000 light years away in the constellation Ara. Star clusters, or globular clusters, contain highly concentrated ancient stars - often about 10 million years old - and bound tightly together by gravity.

	Nov. 7, 2012 Satellites, Supercomputers and the Challenge of Forecasting Storms Forecasting tropical storms like Hurricane Sandy takes a tremendous amount of computing power. The supercomputer at NOAA's environmental prediction center processes 74 trillion calculations per second. We took a trip to forecasting lab this week to see what happens behind the scenes.

	Nov. 1, 2012 In Maine, Bath Salts Blamed for Rising Child Neglect State officials in Maine are blaming a sharp rise in the number of children entering state custody on the street drug known as bath salts. An additional 200 children entered the state's foster care system due to neglect in the past 11 months, and the state is requesting $4.2 million in additional funding to tackle the problem.



	OCTOBER Oct. 31, 2012 Apple and Google Compete to Build, Maintain More Perfect Digital Mapping System In the business of modern mapmaking, there are high stakes for customer satisfaction. When Apple released its iPhone5, it replaced Google Maps with its own mapping technology -- and users were not happy. Spencer Michels reports on the challenges of creating digital maps and how crowdsourcing is making them more accurate.

	Oct. 31, 2012 Paper Maps vs. Digital Maps Hundreds of years ago, map makers mistakenly represented California as an island off the west coast of North America. Today's digital cartographers wouldn't dream of making such a huge mistake, but they're not perfect either. As maps become more advanced and detailed, the technology to improve them also evolves.

	Oct. 30, 2012 Political Campaigns Target Off-the-Grid Voters with Digital Armies of Volunteers As Americans watch less broadcast television and spend more time online, political campaigns face difficulty reaching voters with traditional methods. Hari Sreenivasan reports how the Romney and Obama campaigns, with the help of new tools to gather data and target voters, may have cracked the code to reach off-the-grid voters.

	Oct. 30, 2012 The Aftermath of Post-Tropical Storm Sandy Hurricane Sandy was downgraded to a post-tropical storm on Monday after it made landfall on the New Jersey coast. But the super storm packed a punch, leaving 8.1 million homes and businesses without power, closing transportation. The damage is currently estimated at $20 billion and rising. These photos show the aftermath.

	Oct. 29, 2012 How Campaigns Amass Your Personal Information to Deliver Tailored Political Ads Political advertisers now have unprecedented access to online browsing data, and the presidential campaigns are using gathered information to slice and dice the electorate and engage with voters on issues that are most relevant to their lives. Hari Sreenivasan reports in collaboration with Frontline, Marketplace and Pro Publica.

	Oct. 29, 2012 Digital Campaigns May Decide the Election Find out how and where "off the grid" voters are generating their own digital trail that the campaigns can track with this interactive feature built by Frontline.

	Oct. 29, 2012 Hurricane Sandy Hits Mid-Atlantic Hurricane Sandy, which is being called a "superstorm", began bearing down on the East Coast of the United States on Monday. Cities in New York, Delware and New Jersey saw flooding before the hurricane made landfall. These photos follow Sandy's path to land through the northeaster United States.

	Oct. 29, 2012 Hurricane Sandy Barrels Toward Northeast and Midatlantic States Hurricane Sandy gained strength barreling north overnight and began an expected sharp turn west toward New York, New Jersey, Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

	Oct. 26, 2012 With Windows 8, Microsoft Makes Big Shift Away From PCs Towards Tablets Microsoft has revealed its biggest makeover so far to the operating system found on nine out of every 10 computers in the world. Ray Suarez talks to Forrester Research's Charles Golvin about how Microsoft's decision to focus on tablet-style computers will impact consumers and the greater tech industry.

	Oct. 26, 2012 Hurricane Sandy Sweeps Along East Coast Hurricane Sandy is moving along the East Coast of the United States. The category one storm has left the Bahamas and is traveling north, leaving a trail a destruction through the Caribbean and blowing into Florida.

	Oct. 26, 2012 Designing Robobees Poses Engineering Challenge The robotic bee, or "robobee" has an electronic nervous system that tells it to flap its wings, an exoskeleton inspired by a children's pop-up book and a computer-chip brain.

	Oct. 26, 2012 East Coast Braces for Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy, with its lashing winds and rains, could sweep the East Coast in an as-yet undetermined path this weekend and early next week, and preparations already are underway.

	Oct. 25, 2012 Digital Technology Helps Researchers Hear Earliest Recordings Better The recording is just 78 seconds long, featuring a cornet solo and a man reciting nursery rhymes. Dated back to 1878, experts say it may be the oldest playable recording of an American voice. Ray Suarez talks to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Carl Haber who helped uncover the significance of this tiny piece of tin foil.

	Oct. 25, 2012 How Grandmothers Gave Us Longer Lives You can thank your grandmother for humans' longer life spans. A new study finds that by caring for her grandchildren, grandma may have changed human evolution and allowed us to live longer than other primates.

	Oct. 23, 2012 Seismologists Convicted of Manslaughter for Failing to Predict Earthquake Seven people -- six Italian seismologists and a government official -- were found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to seven years in prison on Monday for failing to warn people of a 6.3 magnitude earthquake that killed more than 300 people. Watch Miles O'Brien's 2011 report here on the science of earthquake prediction.

	Oct. 19, 2012 Absorbent Nanomaterial Cleans up Toxic Water While researching ways to detect explosives at airports, chemist Paul Edmiston made an unexpected discovery: a new spongelike material he calls "Osorb,' which soaks up oil and other contaminants from water. In this video, he demonstrates how to whip up a batch, adds toxins, filters them out, and then drinks it.

	Oct. 18, 2012 Could the U.S. Face 'Cyber Pearl Harbor'? Protecting Banks from Hacker Attacks As U.S. financial institutions continue to be attacked, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warns of a "cyber Pearl Harbor." Michael Leiter, former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, and Neustar, Inc.'s Rodney Joffe talk with Margaret Warner about why banks are vulnerable to disruptions, theft and destructive threats.

	Oct. 18, 2012 Early Triassic's Stifling Heat Made Earth Hostile to Life, Scientists Say Some 250 million years ago, equatorial oceans teemed with mollusks, clams, blue-green algae and microsnails. Fierce, stifling heat proved lethal to most other marine animals and plants, and the land -- then lumped into the giant supercontinent Pangea -- was bleak and largely lifeless.

	Oct. 17, 2012 Australian Scientist Wins 'Dance Your Ph.D' Contest A new "Dance Your PhD" contest winner has been announced, and it involves juggling, shuffling bodies and burlesque-style dancing behind rainbow-colored umbrellas.

	Oct. 16, 2012 Physics of a Supersonic Stratospheric Skydive On Sunday, the world watched as a helium balloon carried a capsule containing Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner to a height of 128,000 feet. And then he jumped, reaching a peak speed of 833.9 miles per hour. Given the fact that traditional skydivers rarely exceed 200 mph, what enabled Felix to freefall so fantastically fast?

	Oct. 15, 2012 Austrian Daredevil Lands on His Feet After Supersonic Jump from the Stratosphere Felix Baumgartner jumped from 24 miles above the earth to break a 52-year-old record for the highest successful free fall jump. Hari Sreenivasan talks to science correspondent Miles O'Brien who explains what scientists can learn from this jump, especially about the survival of the human being in the face of extreme risks.

	Oct. 14, 2012 Austrian Skydiver Lands Safely After Freefalling Faster than Speed of Sound Austrian athlete and daredevil Felix Baumgartner broke the speed of sound on Sunday, after leaping from the edge of the stratosphere and breaking the records for the world's highest and fastest skydive.

	Oct. 11, 2012 Spider-Math and Bat-Physics: Science in a Superhero World How much silk does Spider-Man need to swing through New York City? Could the Dark Knight leap off Gotham skyscrapers and survive? Superheroes may defy many of the laws of physics, but one man is trying to bring science fiction movies a little closer to science fact.

	Oct. 10, 2012 U.S. Scientists Win Nobel for Cell Receptor Research Two U.S. scientists won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for their research on how cells signal each other and communicate with their surrounding environment.

	Oct. 9, 2012 From Rooftop to Alleyway, Chicago Fights Extreme Urban Heat With Greener Ideas One of Chicago's most beautiful and hidden gardens is located on top of City Hall, part of an effort to 'green' roofs in order fight rising temperatures. Hari Sreenivasan reports on the actions the city of Chicago is taking to mitigate climate change in an urban landscape.

	Oct. 9, 2012 U.S. and French Scientists Win Nobel Prize for Quantum Optics Serge Haroche of France and David Wineland of the U.S. won the Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for developing methods to observe, measure and manipulate quantum particles without destroying them.

	Oct. 9, 2012 How to Build a Cooler City As global temperatures rise, urban areas are facing challenges in keeping their infrastructure and their residents cool. Chicago is tackling that problem with a green design makeover. This report is part of our Coping with Climate Change series.

	Oct. 8, 2012 House Report Flags Chinese Telecom Firms on Espionage Fears A report by the U.S. House Intelligence Committee said that evidence and ties to the Chinese government left the strong possibility that goods by two of the world's leading telecom producers could be used for spying in the U.S.

	Oct. 8, 2012 Building Tools for Democracy at the Political Hackathon How do you measure the effectiveness of a politician? How can you tell if the new voter identification laws will affect your ability to vote? What are your chances of being frisked by a New York City police officer based on the neighborhood you are in? In each of these cases, there's an app for that.

	Oct. 8, 2012 Coping with Climate Change: Green Roofs of Chicago As global temperatures rise, cities face the challenge of keeping their infrastructure and residents cool. Chicago is tackling the problem with a green design makeover that includes 369 green roofs covering 5.5 million square feet -- more than any other city in North America. Here's a look at some of the most impressive ones.

	Oct. 8, 2012 Stem Cell Discovery Secures Nobel Prize John B. Gurdon of the United Kingdom and Shinya Yamanaka of Japan share this year's Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology for their work in cellular reprogramming. Their work in stem cells has led to a wave of advances, from cloning to allowing scientists to create embryonic cells without having to destroy embryos.

	Oct. 4, 2012 Dazzling Colors, Wacky Inventions at the Maker Faire Scientists, artists, engineers and builders converged at New York City's 2012 Maker Faire last week to celebrate a playful love of invention. The Maker Faire, a family-focused event, is rooted deeply in science, and holds as part of its key philosophy, a desire to inspire kids to create things as a way to embrace science.

	Oct. 4, 2012 New York City's Maker Faire Delivers Dazzling Colors, Wacky Inventions Scientists, artists, engineers and builders converged at New York City's 2012 Maker Faire last week to celebrate a playful love of science, invention and building things. View photos from the event in this slide show and our 2011 piece on the movement its rooted in.

	Oct. 3, 2012 New Scan Improves Time Frame for Diagnosing Genetic Diseases in Newborns A new strategy helps doctors cut the diagnosis time for genetic diseases in infants from weeks to days, greatly increasing the chances of being able to offer sick babies some kind of treatment. Margaret Warner talks to Dr. Stephen Kingsmore, who led the research team at Children's Mercy Hospitals in Kansas City.

	Oct. 3, 2012 New Rapid Test Can Diagnose Baby's Genetic Disorder in Days It takes several weeks to diagnose genetic diseases in newborns, and in some cases, that's simply too long. A team at Kansas City's Children's Mercy Hospital has developed software cuts the diagnosis time from weeks to two days, enabling immediate treatment.

	Oct. 2, 2012 Among Some 2012 MacArthur Fellows, a Focus on Looking at War and the Military The MacArthur Foundation announced 23 'genius grant' award-winners for 2012, including a mandolinist, an astronomer and an economist. Judy Woodruff profiles An-My Le, a photographer, Laura Poitras, a documentary filmmaker, and David Finkel, a journalist, all of whom have created work about war.

	Oct. 2, 2012 Storms, Starfish and Warmer Waters Wiped out Half of Great Barrier Reef Coral A new study finds that in the last 27 years, half of Australia's Great Barrier Reef coral has died. Gwen Ifill talks to Nancy Knowlton, a coral reef biologist and chair of Marine Science at the Smithsonian Institution, about ecological and economical consequences of the collapse, as well as measures to help mediate the decline.

	Oct. 2, 2012 Starfish and Storms Cost Great Barrier Reef Half Its Coral A study from the Australian Institute for Marine Sciences found that over the past 27 years, the Great Barrier Reef has lost more than half of its coral due mostly to storms, a destructive species of starfish and ocean acidification.

	Oct. 2, 2012 Losing the Great Barrier Reef The Australian Institute of Marine Science reported that over half of the Great Barrier Reef has been lost due to storms, ocean acidification and a destructive species of starfish called crown of thorns. Here you can see the difference these factors have made in the health of the coral.

	Oct. 2, 2012 Worm Researcher, Planet Hunter, Geochemist Among 'Genius Grant' Winners Worm Researcher, Planet Hunter, Geochemist among the scientists awarded MacArthur Foundation Genius awards on Tuesday. The award comes with a $500,000, no-strings-attached grant to put toward the work of their choice.



	SEPTEMBER Sept. 28, 2012 Driverless Car to Hit California Roads California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law on Tuesday that makes it legal for driverless cars to travel on state highways. This opens California roads to the cars -- an important step for testing.

	Sept. 28, 2012 Curiosity Finds Evidence of Ancient Water Flows on Mars NASA's Curiosity rover found evidence for an ancient, flowing stream on Mars at a few sites, including the rock outcrop pictured here.

	Sept. 27, 2012 Why Pandas Have Trouble Getting Pregnant With such a small window of fertility and a high rate of failure, zoos are trying to figure out how to help this endangered species have babies.

	Sept. 27, 2012 Helping Nature Along: Breeding Giant Pandas The giant panda is an endangered species, threatened by destruction of their natural habitats and low birth rates. At zoos, like Smithsonian's National Zoo, veterinarians and zoologists attempt to understand the reproductive cycle of these large mammals to prevent their extinction.

	Sept. 26, 2012 The Shuttle Shokunin: Miles O'Brien on Kennedy Space Center's 50th Anniversary Miles O'Brien delivered a speech at the Kennedy Space Center's 50th anniversary dinner on Sept. 22, 2012. Here's an adapted version of that speech.

	Sept. 26, 2012 Fracking Goes Global In the U.S., technological advances over the past three decades have made it easier and cheaper to tap hard-to-reach pockets of natural gas. But the practice extends far beyond our country. Here's a global look at hydraulic fracturing.

	Sept. 25, 2012 Dropsonde: The Workhorse of Hurricane Hunting Dropsondes are lightweight cylinders loaded with sensors that are ejected from airplanes into powerful hurricanes. Science correspondent Miles O'Brien reports on a team at the National Center for Atmospheric Research that uses these "sondes" to take vertical slices of the atmosphere.

	Sept. 24, 2012 First Comprehensive Genetic Analysis of Breast Cancer Could Change Treatment Research published by Nature shows there are four distinct types of breast cancer and that genetic changes occurring as cancer cells spread are vastly different for each type. Judy Woodruff talks to National Cancer Institute's Dr. Harold Varmus for more on what the research could mean for treatment in the future.

	Sept. 24, 2012 Panda Cub's Death Still a Mystery The week-old panda cub at Smithsonian's National Zoo passed away unexpectedly on Sunday. An abnormality in the liver may have been a factor in the cub's death, according to the zoo's chief veterinarian.

	Sept. 23, 2012 National Zoo Mourns the Death of Week-Old Panda Cub At 9:17 a.m., zookeepers at Smithsonian's National Zoo heard distressed sounds coming from Mei Xiang, their female giant panda. Her week-old cub wasn't moving or breathing.

	Sept. 21, 2012 Shuttle Endeavour Lands in Los Angeles After Long Aerial Tour Strapped to the back of a jumbo jet, Space Shuttle Endeavour swooped over the California state capital and circled San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge and the Santa Monica Pier in a highly choreographed final flight before touching down at the Los Angeles International Airport.

	Sept. 20, 2012 Synthetic Street Drug Camouflaged as Bath Salts Has Dangerous, Bizarre Effects It's a trendy street drug which is cheap, readily available and lethal. And it has dangerous and bizarre side effects including paranoia, agitation, violence and hallucinations. Judy Woodruff talk to Virginia Commonwealth University's Louis de Felice about the uptick in abuse of bath salts as a recreational drug.

	Sept. 20, 2012 Earth Loses Its 'Air Conditioner': Arctic Ice Cap Shrinks to Record Low Level This September, the arctic ice cap melted the most ever recorded, with only 24 percent of the Arctic Ocean covered by ice. Ray Suarez talks to Walt Meier, a scientist at the U.S. National Ice and Snow Data Center about the new evidence and how a lack of arctic sea ice affects ocean currents and changes weather patterns.

	Sept. 20, 2012 Bath Salts: The Drug That Never Lets Go Researchers are beginning to understand more about what makes the collection of street drugs known as "bath salts" so uniquely potent, long lasting and dangerous.

	Sept. 17, 2012 Climate Change Skeptic No Longer Doubts Human Role in Global Warming Physicist Richard Muller was one of the scientists who denied climate change and humans' role warming the earth. But after spending years researching and analyzing countless studies, Muller concluded climate change scientists were right, that humans had contributed to the rise in the earth's temperature. Spencer Michels reports.

	Sept. 17, 2012 It's a Cub! National Zoo Celebrates Panda's Birth Mei Xiang, the 14-year-old giant panda at the Smithsonian's National Zoo, gave birth to her second cub on Sept 16. It's hairless and about the size of a stick of butter. "It's pink and wiggly and very vocal," said Nicole MacCorkle, one of the animal keepers who works with the giant pandas at the zoo.

	Sept. 17, 2012 From Battlefield to Operating Room: Augmented Reality Gets Practical Augmented reality: technology that superimposes computer-generated virtual objects onto our view of the real world. NewsHour science correspondent Miles O'Brien reports on a team of scientists at Mississippi State University working to mix virtual and real objects for practical use.

	Sept. 14, 2012 Conventional Forensic Theory on Order of Bugs That Feast on Corpses Upended Beetles might precede blowflies (not vice versa, as forensic entomology has long suggested), a finding that could change time of death and other calculations made by crime-scene investigators. Story by Scientific American.

	Sept. 13, 2012 Are Hurricanes Linked to Climate Change? As increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere warm the planet, sea surface temperatures rise, increasing ocean surface evaporation and creating more opportunities for hurricanes, says hurricane expert Kerry Emanuel.

	Sept. 12, 2012 Majestic Forests in Oregon at Risk from Timber Industry and Chemical Spraying With 30 million acres of forestland, Oregon has a lucrative timber industry that makes $13 billion each year. But some residents are worried about health and environmental risks posed by a common practice to increase tree growth: chemical spraying. Correspondent Ingrid Lobet reports for the Center for Investigative Reporting.

	Sept. 12, 2012 Apple Unveils iPhone5 Amid Fiercely Competitive Smartphone Market Though Apple remains a giant in the smartphone and tablet industry, the company unveils the new iPhone5 in a fiercely competitive market. Jeffrey Brown talks to the Washington Post's Cecilia Kahng and Forrester Research's Charles Golvin about the challenges Apple faces to stay at the top of the pyramid in the tech world.

	Sept. 12, 2012 Oregonians Fear Harmful Effects From Timberland Herbicides When Eron King moved from Eugene, Ore. to a plot of land in the forest valley, she didn't expect that she and her children would be breathing in herbicides. Every year the timber industry sprays millions of pounds of chemicals on forest land, but the herbicides don't stay in the trees.

	Sept. 12, 2012 All Eyes on Apple as it Prepares to Unveil iPhone 5 On Wednesday, five years since the first iPhone was released, Apple will unveil its newest iteration.Meanwhile, the rumor mill has been abuzz with questions about screen size and battery life, dock connecters and display technology.

	Sept. 11, 2012 The Victory Lab: The Science Behind Winning Campaigns Have you ever wondered what your grocery store receipt has to do with your voting record? Chances are political operatives are poring over potential voters' everyday decisions trying to formulate winning campaign strategies.

	Sept. 11, 2012 Candidates Get Schooled on Science, Await Grades For nearly five years now, the group Science Debate has been trying to thrust science into the spotlight of the presidential campaign. They recently released answers from Obama and Romney on 14 science policy questions. Report cards on the candidates' answers are coming soon.

	Sept. 10, 2012 Third Hottest U.S. Summer Ends With a Splash of Drought Relief The hottest July on record combined with a warmer-than-average June and August made this summer the third hottest in the lower 48 states since record keeping began. Hurricane Isaac delivered some relief, but not enough to end the record droughts and wildfires throughout the Midwest and the Rocky Mountains.

	Sept. 7, 2012 You Are Here: How Astronomical Surveys Are Pinpointing Our Place in the Cosmos Astronomers have long mapped the positions of celestial objects in the sky. But those celestial maps are about to see some major revisions as scientists use ground-based telescopes and spacecraft to better chart our universe.

	Sept. 7, 2012 Hurricane Winds Blast Solar Panels and Roof Tiles...On Purpose At Florida International University, 12 giant fans mimic the intensity of a Category 5 hurricane, pummeling rooftops, building materials and solar panels with winds reaching 157 miles per hour.



	AUGUST Aug. 27, 2012 Neil Armstrong: Reluctant, Modest Hero Who Inspired Nation with One Step Though known for making a "giant leap for mankind," when Neil Armstrong stepped on the surface of the moon, he later said that he "didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small." Science correspondent Miles O'Brien remembers the life of one of the most inspiring astronauts in U.S. history.

	Aug. 27, 2012 News Wrap: Apple Asks Judge to Ban Sale of Some Samsung Devices in U.S. In other news Monday, after a federal jury awarded Apple over $1 billion for patent infringement, Apple has asked the court to ban the U.S. sale of eight Samsung smartphone models. Also, Margaret Warner reports on how the Syrian conflict between rebel opposition and the Assad regime has triggered violence in neighboring Lebanon.

	Aug. 25, 2012 Neil Armstrong, First Man on Moon, Dies at 82 The Apollo 11 commander, whose first small step on the moon in 1969 helped the human race take "one giant leap," died after complications from the heart bypass surgery he received earlier this month, according to a family statement. He was 82 years old.

	Aug. 24, 2012 Apple Wins $1 Billion Patent Infringement Suit Against Samsung For the past year, Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics have been locked in a showdown over dominance of a $200 billion-plus smartphone and tablet market.

	Aug. 23, 2012 Throngs of Dangerous Jellyfish Stings Caused 'Intense, Searing Pain' for Nyad During her 51-hour attempted swim from Cuba to Key West this week, Diana Nyad battled extreme exhaustion, severe sunburn, strained muscles, powerful storms and circling sharks. But the thing that really ground the 103-mile trek to a halt, she said, was the jellyfish.

	Aug. 23, 2012 News Wrap: Mitt Romney Makes Energy Independence by 2020 a Policy Priority In other news Thursday, Mitt Romney unveiled his energy plan in New Mexico, which aims for complete energy independence in the U.S. His plans calls for increased oil and gas drilling, including offshore of Virginia and North Carolina, two states where drilling is currently banned.

	Aug. 23, 2012 Diana Nyad: A Swimmer Battles the Elements During her 42-hour attempted swim from Cuba to Key West this week, Diana Nyad battled extreme exhaustion, severe sunburn, strained muscles, powerful storms and circling sharks. But the thing that really ground the 103-mile trek to a halt, she said, was the jellyfish.

	Aug. 22, 2012 Rain or Shine, Climate Change Pushes Farmers to the Brink Whether it's heavy rains or droughts, climate change may mean losing the farm. Jonathan Foley, director of the Institute for the Environment, says that while farmers are very good at adapting, climate change may push them to the point where growing food is impossible.

	Aug. 22, 2012 Curiosity Surges Forward, Completing First Tiny Test Drive On Wednesday, the Mars rover, Curiosity embarked on its first small journey. It plowed forward 15 feet -- the length of a small moving truck -- made a 120-degree turn and then reversed eight feet before coming to a halt 20 feet from its landing site.

	Aug. 21, 2012 Tech Stock Ebb and Flow: Apple Dominates Wall Street While Facebook Flails Apple became the highest valued company ever when its stock reached a new high. Meanwhile, Facebook stock has lost about half its value since its May IPO. Jeffrey Brown discusses the Apple boom and the Facebook bust with Ted Schadler of Forrester Research and Richard Sylla from the New York University Stern School of Business.

	Aug. 20, 2012 Cave-dwelling 'Trogloraptor' Spider Stuns Scientists Trogloraptor is a cave-dwelling spider with talon-like claws. It hangs upside down from cave ceilings with strands of spider silk, its legs dangling in the air and uses its long claws to snap and pin down its prey. The species is so unusual that scientists had to create a new genus and family to contain it.

	Aug. 17, 2012 For Student Reporters, an Out of This World Interview With a NASA Engineer Students from E.L. Haynes High School in Washington, D.C., put newly acquired reporting skills to the test during an online video interview with Maggie Scholtz, a NASA engineer who works on the Mars rover Curiosity.

	Aug. 16, 2012 U.K. Threatens Ecuador's Diplomatic Status for Protecting Julian Assange For the more than 50 days, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has taken refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. But British officials are determined to extradite Assange to Sweden, where he faces charges of rape and sexual assault. Independent Television News' Jonathan Miller reports.

	Aug. 16, 2012 Phoenix Cluster Surges Back to Life in a Starburst Frenzy Astronomers have discovered a galaxy structure 5.7 billion light years from Earth that spews out new stars at an unprecedented pace - more than 740 stars a year. By comparison, our galaxy - the Milky Way - forms only about one to two stars every year.

	Aug. 16, 2012 Drilling for Ancient Climate Clues On the Joides Resolution research vessel, a team of scientists study the Earth's climate history by drilling deep into the ocean floor and analyzing the deep sea dirt.

	Aug. 16, 2012 Coping with Climate Change: Michigan's Sour Season Northwestern Michigan calls itself the Cherry Capital of the World and supplies most of the country's tart cherries. That wasn't possible in 2012 and may become increasingly harder. We follow the cherry from field to pie to learn about the risks for the industry.

	Aug. 16, 2012 A Sour Season for Michigan's Cherry Farmers Northwestern Michigan calls itself the Cherry Capital of the World and supplies most of the country's tart cherries. But the state experienced a huge crop loss in 2012. We follow the cherry from field to pie to learn about the risks for the industry.

	Aug. 15, 2012 Seeing Through the Fog of War: Monitoring Human Rights Abuses Via Satellite The ongoing battle in Aleppo between Assad regime troops and the Syrian Free Army has left civilians caught in the crossfire. Margaret Warner talks to Amnesty International's Scott Edwards and American Association for the Advancement of Science's Susan Wolfinbarger on how satellites are documenting human rights abuse in Syria.

	Aug. 15, 2012 Beekeepers Feel the Sting of Climate Change Jeremy Jelinek, a Michigan beekeeper, has been stung more times than he can count. But the early spring and late frosts this year froze out his hives and his profits, with no aid or support in sight.

	Aug. 15, 2012 Curiosity Rover Gets Brain Transplant, Prepares for Mountain Trek In the days since its thrilling landing, the newest Mars rover, Curiosity has been held at a standstill while it undergoes a series of checks to its many on-board instruments. But it's kept itself busy snapping photos of the hazy, dust-covered planet, which you can see in the slide show here.

	Aug. 15, 2012 Mars Revealed by Intrepid New Rover NASA's intrepid Mars Rover, Curiosity has been through a lot in the past year. It flew 354-million miles, deployed a supersonic parachute and sky crane and landed on the surface of Mars. And while it undergoes equipment checks, it's been busy snapping photos of the hazy, dust-covered planet, which you can see in this slide show.

	Aug. 14, 2012 A Perilous Cyber World: Guarding Personal Information from Hackers and Thieves When tech writer Mat Honan's iCloud account was hacked, he lost control over his emails, phone, and personal computer, losing correspondence, photos of family members and more. Jeffrey Brown gets a lesson in protecting personal information online from Mat Honan of Wired magazine and Peter Pachal of Mashable.

	Aug. 14, 2012 Early Michigan Spring Leaves Field Workers Underemployed For 26 years, Pedro and Juana Francisco have pruned trees and picked cherries, apricots, peaches and apples at Northern Michigan's King Orchards farm. But this year, due to unusual weather patterns in Michigan, they lost weeks worth of work.

	Aug. 10, 2012 Surveying the Changing Landscape of 'Homegrown Energy' Two years ago, the U.S imported two-thirds of its oil. Now, imports make up less than half of U.S. oil demand. We round up a week of reports from Ray Suarez and producer Merrill Schwerin on consequences and choices surrounding the new energy boom.

	Aug. 10, 2012 Weighing Benefits and Pitfalls of Increased Oil and Gas Production in the U.S. Two years ago, the U.S imported two-thirds of its oil. Now, imports are less than half of U.S. oil needs. Jeffrey Brown talks to National Resources Defense Council's Kate Sinding and the Manhattan Institute's Robert Bryce about increased domestic energy production and whether economic benefits outweigh environmental concerns.

	Aug. 10, 2012 Natural Gas and Where it Fits in America's Energy Future Ray Suarez recently visited Colorado, where he reported on a natural gas revolution occurring in the coal-powered state. Here are two extended excerpts from interviews he conducted for the piece.

	Aug. 9, 2012 Utah Makes Deal For Private Gas Drilling on Pristine Public Land White River, Utah, attracts adventurers for its gorgeous vistas and rare solitude. But proposals to drill for natural gas on the public land worry environmentalists and Native American tribes. Ray Suarez tells of efforts by energy companies and the federal government to strike a deal to drill and protect the environment.

	Aug. 9, 2012 Building a Natural Gas Fleet? Infrastructure Not Included Today, with natural gas prices low and production booming, more trucking companies are making the switch from diesel to natural gas. But finding the infrastructure to fuel a fleet can be a challenge. The UPS branch in Denver is an example of a company that had to build its own fueling stations to accommodate the new trucks.

	Aug. 8, 2012 Are American Companies Ignoring Significant Cyber Threats? Last week Congress failed to reach an agreement on how to beef up cyber security. On Monday the NewsHour solicited your questions on this topic to ask Joel Brenner, the author of "America the Vulnerable: Inside the New Threat Matrix of Digital Espionage, Crime, and Warfare," who spoke with Margaret Warner on Wednesday.

	Aug. 8, 2012 Critical U.S. Infrastructure Vulnerable to Cyber Attack, Congress Fails to Act Since the internet has become so critical to daily life, systems like the electrical grid and water supply have become vulnerable to cyber attacks. Margaret Warner looks at Congress failed attempt to pass legislation that would beef up cyber security and talks with Joel Brenner, former senior counsel at National Security Agency.

	Aug. 8, 2012 Coal-Powered Colorado Undergoing a Natural Gas 'Revolution' In Colorado, coal and natural gas producers are fighting for energy dominance. Ray Suarez reports on the battle in a state that's also weighing what will be the most sustainable energy solution for the future.

	Aug. 8, 2012 Fracking: What is it, and Is it Safe? In tonight's portion of a three-part series on energy, Ray Suarez looks at hydraulic fracturing or fracking. Here's a compilation of investigative pieces, videos, tweets, documents and interactive graphics seeking to study fracking and the health and environmental consequences of the practice.

	Aug. 7, 2012 North Dakota Boomtown Suffers Growing Pains Trying to Keep Up with Demand As domestic oil production increases, towns like Williston, N.D., struggle to meet demand for workers, housing and improved infrastructure. For some communities experiencing the benefits of an energy boom, rapid expansion comes with serious trade-offs. Ray Suarez reports.

	Aug. 7, 2012 Tips From Mat Honan After the Hack That Brought Down His Cloud Technology writer Mat Honan has lived through a difficult reminder about the precarious nature of our online identities and has painstakingly detailed how a hacker destroyed nearly his entire digital life.

	Aug. 7, 2012 Energy Boom in West Creating Jobs and Growth, But Changing Way of Life The boom in energy development in the U.S. is fueling growth in some parts of the American West and transforming some communities. We spoke with John McChesney, who directs the Rural West Initiative at Stanford University and has been chronicling the subject for a new documentary.

	Aug. 6, 2012 NASA Study Links Extreme Summer Heat to Climate Change A new statistical analysis from NASA reveals that the extreme summer heat felt by many Americans this year is the result of global warming. Hari Sreenivasan talks to Columbia University's James Hansen who says the greatest barrier to public recognition of human-made climate change is the natural variability of local climate.

	Aug. 6, 2012 For NASA Rover Team, Many Years of Work and 'Seven Minutes of Terror' Paid Off It only took minutes for Curiosity to land on Mars. But the celebration of the successful landing -- and the mission itself -- will last much longer. Judy Woodruff talks to science correspondent Miles O'Brien and John Grunsfeld of NASA about Curiosity and the years NASA scientists spent planning the journey to Mars.

	Aug. 6, 2012 Curiosity Rover Lands Safely on Surface of Mars After a 354 million-mile journey, NASA's Mars Science Laboratory and its rover Curiosity succeeded in its risky, sophisticated landing on the surface of Mars, and began beaming back photos of its own shadow against the soil of its landing site, the Gale Crater.

	Aug. 5, 2012 James Hansen: Extreme Heat Events Connected to Climate Change Dr. James Hansen of NASA, tells the Newshour there is now enough evidence to connect global warming to some of the extreme weather events of the recent past. There is now a 1 in 10 chance of extreme heat events like the 2010 Texas/ Oklahoma droughts, the 2010 heat wave in Russia and possibly even the current heat wave in the US.

	Aug. 3, 2012 Privacy in a Digital Age: When Twitter Followers Can Track a Lost Phone When New York Times tech reporter David Pogue lost his iPhone, he turned to his 1.4 million Twitter followers for help. And the online crowd responded, tracking his phone down in just a few hours. Though the story had a happy ending, the experience revealed real questions about modern privacy. Hari Sreenivasan reports.

	Aug. 3, 2012 Mission to Mars: Anticipating NASA Rover 'Curiosity' Touchdown NASA will soon attempt to land the rover Curiosity on the surface of Mars. If all goes as planned, Curiosity will enter the Martian atmosphere, slowing its descent by releasing a parachute, and lower to the surface on a tether with the help of a 'sky crane.' Miles O'Brien previews the anticipated rover landing on the Red Planet.

	Aug. 2, 2012 California Water Wars: Will Thirsty Interests Divert More Water? The San Joaquin delta is a merging spot of rivers, sloughs, and canals, where water and snow from the Sierra Nevada Mountains flows to the Pacific Ocean. But there are some residents, especially farmers, who worry that thirsty interests will divert more of their water and ruin their livelihoods. Spencer Michels reports.

	Aug. 2, 2012 California Water: Old Song, New Lyrics NewsHour correspondent Spencer Michels reflects on covering the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, source of water and controversy.

	Aug. 2, 2012 California's Mixing Bowl: The Delta's Crucial Role in a Thirsty State The ecology of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta offers a history of the state of California, of American ambition, of pioneers and politicians, of conservationists and farmers - men and women getting things done. This interactive map from KQED traces the "sinking heart" of California, which is the center of conflict once again.

	Aug. 2, 2012 Are We All Martians? The Curious Hunt for Life on Mars The prospect that Mars was once a cushy berth for life has waxed and waned as our abilities to study the planet have evolved.

	Aug. 2, 2012 Robots and Rovers and Mars Revisited With the youngest and most ambitious Mars rover yet zipping toward its final destination, we thought it appropriate to pause and take a look back at Curiosity's new home and robot brethren.



	JULY July 31, 2012 Countdown Clock Ticks Toward Curiosity Landing on Mars NASA scientists call it the seven minutes of terror: the amount of time it will take the Curiosity rover to plunge through the Mars atmosphere and deploy a massive parachute and sophisticated landing system called a skycrane that will -- hopefully -- land it safely on the surface of the Red Planet.

	July 31, 2012 Bridging the Gap Between Old Government and New Technology More than 600 government leaders, entrepreneurs and technologists came together at this year's Next Generation of Government Summit from July 26-27, to hear speakers, attend presentations and participate in workshops about how to improve government.

	July 30, 2012 Big Stakes on Small Devices: Apple and Samsung Square Off in Federal Court Jury selection began for a lawsuit Apple, Inc. filed against Samsung Electronics, in which Apple claims Samsung copied Apple's smartphone and tablet designs. Ray Suarez reports on a showdown over dominance in a $200 billion market.

	July 30, 2012 Apple and Samsung Face Off in Court The high-stakes trial between Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. geared up Monday as jury selection for the patent infringement case commenced in federal court in San Jose, Calif.

	July 26, 2012 An Old Fashioned Strategy to Keep Asian Carp at Bay in the Great Lakes: Eat Them To keep Asian carp, an invasive species, from taking over in the Great Lakes, scientists and fishermen are employing an simple strategy: Catch them and eat them. But they have found that there are some pragmatic issues -- as well as marketing issues -- to overcome. Ash-har Quraishi of WTTW Chicago reports.

	July 25, 2012 Greenland Goes Green: Ice Sheet Melted in Four Days On July 8, NASA satellite imagery showed about 40 percent of Greenland's top ice layer intact. By July 12, only four days later, 97 percent of the ice had melted. Margaret Warner asks NASA's Thomas Wagner for scientific explanation of the massive thaw.

	July 25, 2012 Sudden Rare Ice Melt in Greenland. What Caused it? In a four-day period this July, the Greenland ice sheet melted at a faster rate than satellite data has ever recorded and at higher elevations than we've ever seen in our lifetimes.

	July 25, 2012 What Caused the Sudden Burst of Extreme Ice Melt in Greenland? Map showing the four day period this July that the Greenland ice sheet melted at a faster rate and at higher elevations than satellite data had ever recorded.

	July 24, 2012 Sally Ride, 61, Left Major Imprint on Space Program, Inspired Young Scientists Known for being the first American woman in space, Sally Ride dedicated her life to inspiring young people to engage in science, using space travel as a means to an educational end, rather than her own personal thrill ride. Judy Woodruff talks with science correspondent Miles O'Brien about Ride and her legacy.

	July 24, 2012 Ride, Sally Ride: My Dinner with the First American Woman in Space On the 17th anniversary of the loss of the Challenger space shuttle, Sally Ride had dinner at Miles O'Brien's home. She was one of the guests of honor celebrating the opening of a new Challenger Learning Center. Miles reflects on that dinner and Ride's contribution to science and space flight.

	July 24, 2012 Sally Ride in 1987: Left NASA at Odds with Agency's Vision In 1987, Sally Ride retired from NASA to take a job a Stanford University, leaving America's space program "without a real hero" and "struggling to stay in orbit."

	July 23, 2012 Sally Ride, First American Woman in Space, Dies at 61 Miles O'Brien remembers Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, who died on Monday after a 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 61.

	July 23, 2012 Scaling Up: Vietnamese Fish Farms Search for Eco-Friendly Formula Reporter Sam Eaton from Marketplace looks at Vietnam, where conservation groups and fish farmers are working to meet health and environmental standards thatbig retailers increasingly demand.

	July 20, 2012 California Activists Want Smart Meters Banned, Claim They're Bad for Health Within the next three years, it is expected that nearly 65 million homes in the U.S. will have wireless smart meters. But some California environmentalists, liberals, Tea Party supporters and other activists are not enthused by this. At the heart of the debate is whether smart meters can cause illness. Spencer Michels reports.

	July 20, 2012 How Smart Are Smart Meters? For the past few years, activists of various stripes -- environmentalists, liberals, some tea party folks, and others -- have been protesting the installation of smart meters in Northern California and elsewhere.

	July 19, 2012 Climate Change Strikes Especially Hard Blow to Native Americans Native Americans make up about one percent of the United States population, but they manage more than 95 million acres of land. Their reservations lie in some of the most diverse ecosystems in the country, ranging from Alaska to the coasts of Florida. And they are often on the frontlines of America's climate-related dangers.

	July 18, 2012 Northwest 'Salmon People' Face Future Without Fish For Northwest tribes, salmon fishing is a way of life. But changes in the climate may be pushing the fish toward extinction. Together with KCTS9 and EarthFix, NewsHour visited the Swinomish Indian reservation to see how they are coping.

	July 17, 2012 Measuring Significant Drought Years More than half of the continental United States was in moderate to extreme drought in June -- including corn- and soybean-producing states -- damaging crops and impacting prices at the grocery store.

	July 17, 2012 Researchers Consider Graphene as a Cure for Desalination Woes Computer simulations indicate graphene desalination membranes could vastly outperform existing reverse-osmosis systems. Scientific American reports.

	July 16, 2012 Coping with Climate Change: Washington's Tribes Washington's Quileute tribe, thrust into the spotlight by the "Twilight" series,' has been struggling to reclaim land threatened by floods and sea level rise. Together with KCTS9 and EarthFix, NewsHour visited the tribe to hear their story.

	July 16, 2012 Climate Change Threatens The Tribe From 'Twilight' Washington's Quileute tribe, thrust into the spotlight by the "Twilight" series,' has been in a struggle to reclaim land threatened by floods and sea level rise. Together with KCTS9 and EarthFix, NewsHour visited the tribe to hear their story.

	July 13, 2012 In Austin, Charged up About Smart Power Miles O'Brien examines power grid reliability in a neighborhood near Austin, Texas that uses "smart grid" technology to track - and control - its energy consumption.

	July 13, 2012 The View from the Volt: Miles Risks Safety While Talking Smart Power Last week, a powerful "derecho" storm hammered the mid-Atlantic region, snuffing out power during the peak of a sweltering heat wave for nearly a week in some homes. Days later, Miles O'Brien traveled to Austin, Tex. to look at a neighborhood that operates on a smart grid. Here's a preview to his piece, which airs tonight.

	July 12, 2012 An Election on Facebook: Old Media Enters New World Do "likes" on Facebook translate to votes? Howard Kurtz and Lauren Ashburn of Daily-Download.com examine that issue with Ray Suarez and also explore why traditional news outlets are partnering with social media sites this election year.

	July 12, 2012 Ancient Artifacts Signal Mysterious Group of Early Americans From the Paisley Caves in Oregon's Northern Great Basin, archeologists have unearthed strong evidence of a group of early Americans with their own technology that lived alongside or even earlier than the Clovis.

	July 12, 2012 Stellar Arts: Astronomy as Muse for African Artists From a gigantic rainbow serpent fashioned out of recycled jerry cans to a painting of girls dancing against a Milky Way backdrop, the exhibit "African Cosmos: Stellar Arts" examines how African artists through time have looked to the sky, the sun, the moon and the stars for inspiration.

	July 12, 2012 African Cosmos: Stellar Arts From a gigantic rainbow serpent fashioned out of recycled jerry cans to a painting of girls dancing against a Milky Way backdrop, the Smithsonian's "African Cosmos: Stellar Arts" exhibit examines how African artists through time have looked to the sky, the sun, the moon and the stars for inspiration.

	July 12, 2012 Was Your Yahoo! Password Exposed? News broke late last night that the Yahoo Voices service was hacked, exposing more than 450,000 usernames and passwords.

	July 11, 2012 Ray Kurweil's Immortality Cocktail; And a Student Loan Skeptic Wednesday we feature the second of our interview outtakes with inventor/author/futurist Ray Kurzweil.

	July 11, 2012 10 Questions with Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales When Wikipedia formally launched on Jan. 15, 2001, creators Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger hoped to create over 100,000 articles.

	July 10, 2012 Russian Blackouts, Neutrality and Trusting Wikipedia Hari interviews Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales on today's blackouts in Russia, trusting crowd-sourced information and attracting more women to the Wikipedia community.

	July 10, 2012 Extreme Weather Records 'Like a Baseball Player on Steroids' As temperatures soared past 110 degrees in some states and thunderstorms pummeled the deep South, raising fears of flooding, a new report says climate change has likely influenced the odds of extreme weather. Judy interviews Thomas Karl, director of NOAA's National Climatic Data Center.

	July 10, 2012 Buying Gold and Futurist Ray Kurzweil on Melding of Man and Machine Author, inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil talks with economics correspondent Paul Solman about what Kurzweil has dubbed 'the singularity': the melding of man and machine to the point where one can't tell the difference between the two.

	July 6, 2012 Were more than 3,000 Heat Records Actually Set in June? A widely-reported headline this week announced that 3,215 high temperature records were matched or broken across the U.S. in June. But the PBS NewsHour's record temperature heat widget only reported 743 broken heat records--quite a discrepancy.

	July 6, 2012 The Garden of Our Neglect: How Humans Shape the Evolution of Other Species As humans have come to dominate the planet, they have modified not only their own evolutionary course but also that of fellow species. Although such alterations help us survive, their unintended evolutionary consequences often produce harmful results that threaten our well-being. Rob Dunn reports for Scientific American.

	July 5, 2012 Why Obama Thinks You Would Care About a Dinner With Sarah Jessica Parker As part of an ongoing series on social media and politics, Ray Suarez and journalists Lauren Ashburn and Howard Kurtz of Daily-Download.com discuss how campaigns send targeted emails, and what happens to politicians' deleted tweets.

	July 4, 2012 What the 'Rock Star' Discovery of the Higgs Boson Means for Science What exactly is the Higgs boson, and why is its discovery so fundamental to understanding particle physics? Author and Guardian science correspondent Ian Sample has the details.

	July 4, 2012 Physicists Discover Clear Evidence of Elusive Higgs Boson Scientists announced on Wednesday they have evidence of the much sought-after Higgs boson, a subatomic particle thought to endow all other particles -- and by extension all matter in the universe -- with mass. Tom Clarke of Independent Television News reports.

	July 4, 2012 Before and After Satellite Images Show Storm Effects NASA Earth Observatory released satellite images that show the power outages in the Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area that occurred as a result of a rare, fast-moving "derecho" thunderstorm system on Friday, June 29th.

	July 4, 2012 Washington-Baltimore Area Power Outages These before and after images from NASA show the power outages in the Washington, D.C. and Baltimore area that occurred as a result of a rare, fast-moving thunderstorm system on Friday, June 29th.

	July 4, 2012 Physicists Announce Long-Awaited Evidence of 'God Particle' Scientists in Geneva have found a particle, and they think it's the Higgs boson, the squirrely, elusive subatomic particle believed to be responsible for giving size, shape and - let's just say it, life - to all matter in the universe.

	July 2, 2012 Alan Alda's 'Flame Challenge' Illuminates Importance of Communicating Science Clarity, specificity and humor are among the best tools for making kids grasp even simple questions like "What is a flame?" Science correspondent Miles O'Brien talks to actor Alan Alda and scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson about the need to explain science concepts to the public.

	July 2, 2012 From Wildfires to Heat Wave, Extreme Weather Batters U.S. The continuing U.S. heat wave has killed at least 22 people, while states try to grapple with storm-driven power outages on the East Coast and wildfires in the West. Tom Bearden reports on the experiences of families in Fort Collins, Colo., who returned to their homes after the wildfires to see what treasures had survived.

	July 1, 2012 Alan Alda is Trying to Find the Next Carl Sagan Miles O'Brien reports on a contest created by actor Alan Alda, which challenges scientists to flex their communication muscles by answering the seemingly simple question, "What is a flame?" Thousands of 11-year-olds serve as judges.



	JUNE June 28, 2012 Behind the Scenes: Attacking Science Jargon in 'Flame Challenge' In 1947, when film star Alan Alda was 11-years-old, he asked a teacher the seemingly innocuous question, "What is a flame?" The answer, "oxidation," was thoroughly unsatisfying to young Alda.

	June 27, 2012 Tsunami Dock Carries Invaders to Oregon Remnants of the 2011 Japan tsunami have started to arrive on the western shores of North America, posing new challenges to beach clean up, like a 165-ton industrial pier that made its way to Agate Beach in Oregon.

	June 27, 2012 Invaders Hitch a Ride on Tsunami Debris A year after Japan's devastating tsunami, much of the debris is washing up along the western coast of the United States, carrying unwanted organisms with it.

	June 25, 2012 Is Google Scared? Submit Your Questions on the Future of Social Media On Friday's show, I interviewed Rory O'Connor, longtime video journalist, blogger and author of the new book, "Friends, Followers and the Future," about the power and perils of social networks. O'Connor has agreed to answer Making Sen$e questions. Ask O'Connor anything and everything.

	June 25, 2012 Species-Specific Microbes May Be Key to a Healthy Immune System Mice have a jungle of bacteria, viruses and fungi in their stomachs--and so do we. These microorganisms help both mice and us break down dinner. As we are finding, these bugs also help to regulate the immune system.

	June 22, 2012 Families Struggle to Recover Long After Wildfires Are Out Every few years massive fires sweep through America's western forests, turning green mountainsides black. A common thread running through all of the stories we've reported is the hardship faced by the people who are displaced.

	June 21, 2012 Carl Zimmer Uncovers Our 'Planet of Viruses' Here are just a few of the fascinating facts from Carl Zimmer's book, "A Planet of Viruses": If you put all the viruses in the ocean on a scale, they would equal the weight of 75 million blue whales. And if you lined up all those viruses end to end, "they would stretch out past the nearest 60 galaxies."

	June 15, 2012 In Colo., Drought and Wind Fuel Summer of Fire Almost a week after the High Park wildfire began west of Fort Collins, Colo., the flames still rage out of control. Meanwhile, in New Mexico, fires have burned almost 60 square miles. Tom Bearden reports from northern Colorado, where a dry winter, high winds and a tiny insect are making it hard to contain the flames.

	June 15, 2012 In Monarch Butterflies, Scientists Find Link Between Migration and Disease Butterflies and bats reveal clues about spread of infectious disease. Miles O'Brien reports.

	June 14, 2012 A New Genetic Map That Could Make Your Skin Crawl Very little has been known about the trillions of bacteria and other microorganisms in our bodies. But now, scientists with the Human Microbiome Project have completed the first microbial map of healthy humans. Jeffrey Brown speaks with Dr. Eric Green, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute.

	June 14, 2012 The Science of Storytelling: A Conversation with Jonathan Gottschall Stories have always captivated our attention, and narrative plays a central role in what makes us human. In his new book, "The Storytelling Animal," Jonathan Gottschall explores the art of telling tales and the science behind what's at work in our minds when we hear things like, "Once upon a time."

	June 13, 2012 Verizon Wants You to Share Everything but Data Plans Verizon Wireless, the nation's largest mobile carrier, announced they are changing up how they will bill for data services across devices.

	June 12, 2012 New Telescope to Bring Black Holes, Exploding Stars Into Focus NuSTAR, short for Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, is slated to lift off atop a Pegasus XL rocket on Wednesday. Once there, it will focus its X-rays on some of the most violent events in space: energetic particles blasting from black holes and radioactive remnants left over from supernovae, or exploding stars.

	June 11, 2012 Colorado, New Mexico Emergency Officials Seek More Help Fighting Wildfires Since it was started early Saturday by a lightning strike, the High Park wildfire has consumed more than 60 square miles in Colorado -- damaging or destroying more than 100 homes. Meanwhile, crews in southern New Mexico battled a 54-square-mile fire near the town of Ruidoso. Gwen Ifill reports.

	June 7, 2012 Where Have All the Stars Gone? The thrill of gazing into a night sky packed with stars, constellations and a stretch of our Milky Way galaxy is primal and timeless -- and it's become increasingly rare.

	June 6, 2012 Venus Transit Images Captured in Space Assuming you haven't already been overwhelmed with photos of the event, and are desiring a bit more perspective, NASA has provided stunning images from space, snapped from its Solar Dynamics Observatory, its Hinode solar optical telescope and the International Space Station.

	June 6, 2012 Venus Transit as Revealed in Space For those Earthlings lucky enough to be under cloudless skies during Tuesday's Venus transit, it took the form of a pea-sized dot gliding across the Sun's northern hemisphere. For more perspective, NASA has collected a stunning sampling of images both from space telescopes and International Space Station astronauts.

	June 6, 2012 The Squid and the Electric Current: Remembering the Work of a Brain Pioneer In the late 1940s, Sir Andrew Huxley and Sir Alan Hodgkin teased a nerve cell from an Atlantic squid, placed it into a seawater bath and zapped it with currents. Then, with the data, they built a mathematical model that explained, for the first time, how electricity travels along nerves.

	June 5, 2012 Louisiana Fishermen Pioneer Floating Architecture The fishing community on Old River in Louisiana is in a flood-prone area. In order to maintain their homes, many of the residents have mobilized to devise an innovative solution: turning their homes into floating rafts. Also known as "amphibious," the houses usually stay grounded, but float when the water rises.

	June 5, 2012 Venus Transit: A Planet's Day in the Sun In the 18th century, astronomers used the Venus transit to calculate the distance from the Earth to the sun. After the 1882 Venus transit, John Philip Sousa scored a march in its honor. Since it was first predicted in the 17th century, we've only had a chance to view the phenomenon six times. And today's our day.

	June 4, 2012 Movement Retraining Can Reduce Knee Pain Stanford University mechanical engineers study arthritis sufferers by rigging them with sensors and then directing them to walk on a treadmill. Custom software calculates the forces on their joints, and scientists suggest changes to their gait accordingly.

	June 1, 2012 Viewing the Venus Transit: What's the Safest Way to Stare at the Sun? A transit of Venus, wherein the planet Venus visibly crosses in front of the sun is extremely rare - so rare that it will not happen again until December 2117. Anybody can view the phenomenon, but safety is important, experts say. Here's a look at the best ways to view it.

	June 1, 2012 Native Lands Wash Away as Sea Levels Rise In collaboration with Louisiana Public Broadcasting, the PBS NewsHour examines the vanishing coastline of Louisiana and the effect it's having on the native tribes who live there. This report is part of our series Coping with Climate Change.

	June 1, 2012 Coping with Climate Change: Louisiana's Vanishing Coast There are few places in America that are as vulnerable to climate change as Isle de Jean Charles in coastal Louisiana, which has been home for generations of native tribes. The island is on the frontlines of erosion, saltwater intrusion and intensifying storms and floods as sea level rise becomes an increasingly larger problem.



	MAY May 31, 2012 Sizing Up Which Presidential Campaigns Are #Winning in Twitter Influence As part of an ongoing series on how candidates use social media this election season, Margaret Warner and journalists Lauren Ashburn and Howard Kurtz of Daily-Download.com discuss how influential the Obama and Romney presidential campaigns are on Twitter. They also examine John Edwards' standing in the Twittersphere.

	May 31, 2012 Louisiana Islander: Water Is 'Closing in on Us' On Friday, the NewsHour will report on how subsidence and rising seas have battered coastal Louisiana's Isle de Jean Charles, an island that has been home to Native Americans since the 1840s.As a preview to the report, Hari spoke with Doris Naquin, a member of the Biloxi-Chitimacha tribe and a lifelong resident of the island.

	May 30, 2012 Flame: Trying to Unravel the Mystery of 'Sophisticated' Spying Malware Reportedly capable of taking computer screenshots, logging keystrokes and even listening in on office conversations, malware known as "Flame" is grabbing international attention after appearances in Iran and elsewhere in the Middle East. Jeffrey Brown and guests discuss the potential risks of a "Flame" outbreak.

	May 30, 2012 Why Louisiana Is Sinking On the NewsHour this week, we will be covering how rising sea levels are threatening people who live on the fragile Louisiana Delta.

	May 29, 2012 Floating Architecture: Finding Ways to Live With Rising Water There is a saying that "God made the world, but the Dutch made Holland." And for centuries, the Dutch have built different types of barriers to hold back rising water and allow for development.

	May 28, 2012 Floating Architecture: Preparing for a Life on Water As the climate continues to change, scientists are predicting more precipitation, flooding and rising seas across the globe. In response, there is a growing movement in architecture and design to create homes and other buildings that would allow people to live surrounded by more and more water. View some artists' renderings.

	May 25, 2012 Are U.S. Nuclear Plants Ready for a Fukushima-Like Meltdown? When Chairman Gregory Jaczko resigned from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week, reports suggested it was linked to battles within the commission over safety requirements. In the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Miles O'Brien reports on how government regulators in the U.S. set the safety bar for nuclear plants.

	May 25, 2012 News Wrap: International Space Station Grasps SpaceX 'Dragon' Capsule In other news Friday, the unmanned SpaceX "Dragon" spacecraft was captured by the International Space Station's robot arm in a rendezvous high over Australia. In Syria, anti-government activists reported an army assault killed at least 50 people in the central part of the country.

	May 25, 2012 International Space Station Catches 'Dragon by the Tail' "Looks like we've got us a dragon by the tail," announced NASA astronaut Don Pettit as the International Space Station's robotic arm reached out and grabbed the SpaceX Dragon capsule Friday morning.

	May 24, 2012 How the Nuclear Bomb Gave Us the Computer "Turing's Cathedral" author George Dyson tells Hari Sreenivasan how the creation of the hydrogen bomb gave us the modern computer.

	May 23, 2012 As Golden Gate Bridge Turns 75, History Revised to Honor Engineer The Golden Gate Bridge opened to traffic on May 27, 1937. This weekend, 75 years later, San Francisco plans to celebrate while honoring the engineer whose contributions to the design were purposefully obliterated: Charles Ellis. Spencer Michels delves into Ellis' story, and into the man who did get the credit -- Joseph Strauss.

	May 22, 2012 A Year After Joplin's Tornado, Disaster's 'Immensity' Still a Challenge One year ago, a tornado packing 200 mph winds tore through the city of Joplin, Mo., killing 161 people and destroying 8,000 buildings -- including many homes. Gwen Ifill and businesswoman Jane Cage, who leads the Citizens Advisory Recovery Team, discuss life in Joplin now and down the road.

	May 22, 2012 SpaceX Blasts Into 'Uncharted Territory,' Hoping to Make Space Cheaper After several delays -- including a last-second abort on Saturday when computers spotted a bad engine valve, Space Explorations Technologies Corporation on Tuesday became the first private company to send a vessel to the International Space Station. Jeffrey Brown and Miles O'Brien discuss the significance of the SpaceX launch.

	May 22, 2012 Miles O'Brien on SpaceX Launch: Space for the Rest of Us Space is hard and unforgiving and there is still a lot of challenging work ahead for the SpaceX Dragon team. But this is a moment to savor.

	May 21, 2012 Mapping Alligator Genomes Is Risky Business Collecting DNA samples isn't easy when your subject could snap off your hand with one bite, but it's a risk David Ray -- a researcher at Mississippi State University -- and his team are willing to take, as they wrestle alligators and crocodiles in hopes of finding answers in these animals' genes.

	May 18, 2012 'The Information Diet': Should Americans Exercise More 'Conscious Consumption'? Clay Johnson, author of "The Information Diet: A Case for Conscious Consumption", discusses with Hari Sreenivasan how abundant technology affects our health -- producing pulsing side effects such as "email apnea" or "reality dysmorphia."

	May 18, 2012 The Rise of Facebook Founded in 2005, Facebook's social network has changed our relationships with friends, family and co-workers, created a new playground for politics, and altered the rules for media, culture and advertising. This timeline chronicles the evolution of the social media giant.

	May 17, 2012 SpaceX Readies for Historic Launch On Saturday, if all goes as planned, the privately owned spaceflight company SpaceX will launch its Dragon capsule into low-Earth orbit and three days later dock with the International Space Station.

	May 16, 2012 The Future of Prosthetics: Mind-Bending Robotic Arms Researchers have shown that patients paralyzed from the neck down can move robotic arms with their minds, according to a new report in the journal Nature that documents two cases involving brain-stem stroke victims. Margaret Warner discusses the hopes for the technology with Dr. Leigh Hochberg of Massachusetts General Hospital.

	May 16, 2012 Paralyzed Woman Powers Robotic Arm With Her Mind On April 12, 2011, a 59-year-old woman with a sensor implanted in her brain picked up her cinnamon latte with a robotic arm, brought it to her lips and took a sip through a straw, using only her thoughts.

	May 14, 2012 The Veins of a Leaf: Revealing Nature's Mathematical System The veins of a leaf are key to its structure. Mathematical physicists at Rockefeller University use fluorescent dye and time lapse photography to study microscopic patterns within these veins to better understand how nutrients flow through the leaf and into the plant's cells. Miles O'Brien reports for the latest Science Nation.

	May 10, 2012 Chimpanzee Testing: Is it the Beginning of the End? Medical experiments on chimpanzees can be invasive, involving injections, blood samples and liver biopsies. But some say it's the only way to advance medicine. Miles O'Brien's report explores whether there are ever instances in which the scientific value of research should offset the moral cost of working with chimps.

	May 10, 2012 'Oops Babies' Sired by Twice-Vasectomized Chimp Despite a strict no-breeding rule and extreme efforts to stop it, the chimps are having accidental babies. Tracy was born five years ago. And this Valentine's Day, 29-year-old Flora was found nursing a newborn chimp. The births occurred even though all males in the group were vasectomized - some twice.

	May 8, 2012 Breathalyzer Detects Diseases From Diabetes to Cancer Scientists at Stony Brook University have developed a breathalyzer with a sensor chip that can detect diseases like diabetes, high cholesterol and lung cancer. The sensor is coated with tiny nanowires capable of isolating biomarkers -- chemical compounds in the breath that signal disease.

	May 7, 2012 Incredible, Edible Bugs: Will Meals of Mealworms Catch on in U.S.? Most Americans would squirm when even thinking of eating a grasshopper or locust. But a movement is afoot to encourage insect eating with advocates praising bugs' low fat and high protein. Spencer Michels tasted wax moth larvae tacos and crispy mealworms over ice cream to prepare this report on efforts to put bugs on U.S. menus.

	May 7, 2012 Bugs for Dinner? Join the Rest of the World Many Americans would squirm when thinking of eating an insect. But a fledgling movement praising insects' health benefits and low environmental impact is encouraging Americans to swap steak sandwiches for salted crickets tostadita.

	May 3, 2012 SpaceX Boldly Looks to Blast 'Millions of People to Mars' With the space shuttle era now over and U.S. space flight on the verge of going private for the near future, the company behind the so-called SpaceX project has ambitious plans to make space flight cheaper for cargo and for humans, with a bold idea to send millions of people to Mars. Science correspondent Miles O'Brien reports.

	May 3, 2012 Are You Smarter Than a 10th Grader on Climate Change? Think you understand climate science better than the average American teen? On the PBS NewsHour this week we've been focusing on how climate change is taught in the classroom.

	May 2, 2012 Black Hole Rips Star To Shreds, Then Swallows It Computer simulation shows a star being shredded by the gravity of a massive black hole and ejecting the debris at high speeds.

	May 2, 2012 Join a Live Chat Thursday: How Do You Teach Climate Change in the Classroom? For the first time, national science standards will include guidelines on how to teach climate change -- but how will teachers incorporate the subject into the curriculum? Watch the broadcast segment on Wednesday's NewsHour and then join Hari Sreenivasan on Thursday at 5 p.m. ET for a live chat on the topic.

	May 1, 2012 'Liquid Bandages' Could Help Re-Grow Skin, Save Lives Dr. Mark Carlson of Nebraska Surgical Research is developing a liquid bandage to stop bleeding quickly and potentially save lives in battlefield situations while also aiding future regenerative possibilities. This report was a collaboration with NET Nebraska and KQED San Francisco's Quest science program.

	May 1, 2012 Climate In The Classroom: Teachers Share Their Stories This week, the PBS NewsHour will report on one teacher's struggles to teach climate change in her Colorado classroom. We asked teachers and educators to share their experiences handling the subject in their schools.

	May 1, 2012 Transparency or Bust: Riding a Hacker Bus to Change Brazil Known in Portuguese as "Transparencia Hacker," the Sao Paulo-based activist group stresses it's not a typical "hacking" organization but one that uses public data to reach its aims.



	APRIL April 30, 2012 Tiny 3-D Structures Assemble with Remarkable Precision Miles O'Brien reports on a team of scientists at Johns Hopkins University who are developing self-assembling, three-dimensional nanostructures to be used for targeted drug delivery.

	April 26, 2012 Bridging the Gender Gap: Why More Women Aren't Computer Scientists, Engineers "If you completely shut out the entire feminine perspective on the world," says Maria Klawe of Harvey Mudd College, "you're going to have a different set of products." Judy Woodruff and Klawe discuss why more women aren't pursuing careers in hard sciences, and Klawe's plans to bridge the gaps in engineering and computer science.

	April 26, 2012 What We Lose By Losing Women in the Hard Sciences Experts have struggled for years to understand what's keeping more women from entering physics, engineering and computer science. Judy Woodruff interviews Maria Klawe from Harvey Mudd College on the subject.

	April 25, 2012 Why Engineering, Science Gender Gap Persists Why are engineers and computer scientists overwhelmingly male? We take a look at the gender gap among women in the sciences.

	April 24, 2012 Live Chat: Why Aren't There More Female Scientists and Engineers? This week on the NewsHour, we take a look at why more women aren't pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics , with reports beginning Wednesday online and on the broadcast.

	April 24, 2012 Baby Dolphin Die-Offs Continue in the Gulf An unusually high number of dead dolphins - including stillborn and infant calves - have washed up along the Gulf of Mexico shores in the two years since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded into flames, unleashing tens of thousands of barrels of oil into the ocean.

	April 23, 2012 Geoscientist Bungee Jumps to Imitate Shifting Climate Richard Alley has taken an extreme leap - off a really high bridge - to demonstrate how drastically the Earth's climate is shifting.

	April 20, 2012 Gulf Still Grapples With Massive BP Oil Leak 2 Years Later Two years after the largest oil leak in U.S. history, the Gulf of Mexico region still struggles with its impact. Jeffrey Brown, David Valentine of the University of California, Santa Barbara and Garret Graves of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority of Louisiana discuss the state of the Gulf and related industries.

	April 19, 2012 Solar Suitcase Report Spurs Gifts to Aid Baby Deliveries in Developing World Correspondent Spencer Michels recently reported on the California nonprofit We Care Solar, which developed a "solar suitcase" to provide lights and communications equipment in delivery rooms and health care facilities in developing countries. Co-founder Dr. Laura Stachel reports that NewsHour viewers were quick to offer support.

	April 19, 2012 Infrared Camera Sees Through Stardust to the Edge of the Universe Space tornadoes, stellar nurseries, primitive galaxies - these are just a few of the dazzling images captured by the Spitzer Space Telescope since its 2003 launch.

	April 18, 2012 Space Tornadoes, Baby Stars, and Ancient Galaxies After a thousand days in space, the Infrared Array Camera on the Spitzer Space Telescope has sent back thousands of images of stars being born, space "tornadoes" and galaxies at the edge of the universe. To commemorate its voyage, the program has published ten of its favorite pictures that have come back from the telescope.

	April 18, 2012 Teen Reporter Investigates Cyberbullying Bullying through online platforms - known as cyberbullying - has gained increased national attention recently. Seventeen-year-old Amy reported on the issue for her school newspaper and shares tips to keep her and her peers safe online.

	April 17, 2012 Space Shuttle Discovery Draws Eyes to Sky for Final Flight NASA's space shuttle Discovery captivated people in and around the nation's capital Tuesday as it flew piggy-back on a 747 over the Capitol en route on its last landing at Dulles International Airport. Gwen Ifill and Valerie Neal, a curator at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, discuss its future as a museum piece.

	April 17, 2012 Miles O'Brien Reflects on Discovery's Last Flight, Space Shuttle Shortcomings Miles O'Brien reports on what Space Shuttle Discovery's final trip to retirement means for the Sunshine State. Also, the successes and shortcomings of the storied shuttle program, and what comes next for NASA.

	April 17, 2012 Space Shuttle Discovery's Final Flight In Washington D.C. and Northern Virginia, people pressed their faces against windows, parked along highways and squinted from rooftops to glimpse space shuttle Discovery circle above the district atop a modified 747 jumbo jet before making it's final descent into Dulles International Airport.

	April 16, 2012 Preventing a 'Cyber-Pearl Harbor' Government-funded DETERlab was built to bring established scientific principles to the field of cybersecurity in hopes of preventing successful cyber attacks on targets such as power grids, banks and train systems. Correspondent Tom Bearden reports on the project's hopes for a nation "wholly vulnerable" to such threats.

	April 16, 2012 How to Remove Yourself From Google Street View Google was fined by the Federal Communications Commission for hampering an investigation into the company's Street View data collection methods. Don't like your image on Street View? Hari Sreenivasan walks through tips on how to alert Google.

	April 16, 2012 DeterLab's Cyber 'Racetrack' Battles Computer Hackers California-based DeterLab was established to bring experimentation and verification to cyber security efforts, which often focus on reacting to threats rather than preventing them.

	April 12, 2012 Would a Major Earthquake Sink Portland or Seattle in Liquefied Soil? Though the impact of Wednesday's 5.9-magnitude earthquake off Oregon's coast was minimal, a lesser-known risk of temblors -- a phenomenon called liquefaction where sandy soil turns to liquid and loses its ability to support weight -- has some scientists worried. Tom Bearden reports what's being done to prepare for a major quake.

	April 12, 2012 Risky Business in the Pacific Northwest On Thursday's PBS NewsHour, Tom Bearden reports on efforts to better understand a phenomenon called liquefaction. When a powerful earthquake shakes a region, sandy soils can turn to liquid and lose their ability to support weight. Man-made structures built on such soils sag, slide sideways or sink into the ground.

	April 12, 2012 Six Feet Under Can Be Green for Eternity Today the number of green cemeteries across the country has grown to 36, with some 300 providers of green burial options. Natural burial eschews modern techniques for delaying decomposition and prohibits embalming fluids, formaldehyde. The body is placed in a simple shroud, a biodegradable casket or urn.

	April 11, 2012 Citizen Scientists Track Rain Drop by Drop The volunteer members of the Community Collaborative Rain Hail and Snow Network or CoCoRaHS track precipitation around the country. They are "measuring like crazy" to get the National Weather Service and others the most accurate and up-to-date information, down to the last drop.

	April 9, 2012 Feeling the Heat: March Shattered Temperature Records Across U.S. This March was the warmest ever in the continental United States, measuring on average a staggering 8.6 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than normal, according to a report released Monday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. More than 15,000 heat records were shattered across the country.

	April 9, 2012 Electric Knifefish Charged with Sixth Sense The weakly electric knifefish uses its electric field as a sixth sense - to communicate, navigate its murky surroundings and hunt prey. Mechanical engineer Noah Cowan of Johns Hopkins University explains that a small organ in the tail of the Ecuadorian fish generates an electric field, which then envelopes the animal.

	April 5, 2012 Slime Molds: No Brains, No Feet, No Problem Slime mold is not a plant or animal. It's not a fungus, though it sometimes resembles one. Slime mold, in fact, is a soil-dwelling amoeba, a brainless, single-celled organism, often containing multiple nuclei. Here's a look at this peculiar organism.

	April 4, 2012 Solar Suitcase: Saving Lives with Solar Power Dr. Laura Stachel and her husband founded We Care Solar to help bring light to the estimated 300,000 hospitals and clinics in the developing world that don't have reliable sources of electricity. Our slideshow highlights Stachel's work toward equipping remote clinics with solar suitcases that bring light to dark delivery rooms.

	April 3, 2012 Slime Molds, Revealed The slime mold takes on hundreds of shapes, sizes, and colors. Some varieties are the size of dinner plates, while others are only visible through a microscope.

	April 2, 2012 An Interactive History of the Texas Drought Our public media partners at StateImpact Texas have launched an interactive tool tracing the evolution of the ongoing Texas drought. The new tool allows you to explore the scope of the drought, the policy implications, and also share your own stories.

	April 2, 2012 Seeing Beyond the Visual Cortex Miles O'Brien reports on research that involves shooting a magnetic pulse straight into the visual cortex of a subject's brain, disabling that region and momentarily blinding the subject. Though "blind," in most cases, the subject can still correctly identify shapes flashed onto a computer screen, the study finds.



	MARCH March 29, 2012 Colo. Nonprofit Helps Quake Victims Rebuild With Better Techniques When a major earthquake strikes, workers with the American non-profit Build Change arrive in the affected area about two months later, once the emergency relief phase is over, to investigate damaged and destroyed buildings.

	March 29, 2012 The Dos and Don'ts of Earthquake-Resistant Construction Here are some tips on building a home that could withstand an earthquake.

	March 28, 2012 What a Cake Pan, Hairspray Taught Us About Earth's Ancient Atmosphere A study of fossilized raindrops preserved in volcanic ash concludes that the density of the atmosphere on Earth 2.7 billion years ago was similar to that of today, adding new information to a longstanding astrophysical paradox.

	March 27, 2012 Harnessing Supercomputers to Predict Tornadoes At the University of Oklahoma, scientists are designing a system that would predict where and when tornadoes will happen. The goal: to provide hours of warning time rather than minutes. Miles O'Brien reports for the National Science Foundation's latest Science Nation piece.

	March 26, 2012 James Cameron Descends 7 Miles Into Pacific Ocean's 'Desolate' Mariana Trench Shooting footage for a 3-D movie and a National Geographic special, filmmaker James Cameron journeyed to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean on Sunday, seven miles below the surface. Tom Clarke of Independent Television News reports on Cameron's deep dive to the Mariana Trench's Challenge Deep, 300 miles southwest of Guam.

	March 26, 2012 Spotting Venus, Lunar-Like Sub Dive, and Hitchhiking in Duck Guts Cameron's Historic Dive Cut Short by Leak; Few Signs of Life SeenA hydraulic fuel leak cut filmmaker James Cameron's dive to the deepest part of the ocean short, but he still plunged to nearly seven miles underwater.

	March 23, 2012 Before and After: Images of the Southwest Drought From Space The severe drought in Texas has left damage that could be seen from space. Satellite images from the United States Geological Survey and aerial photos show just how drastically the drought has altered the landscape of Texas and the American Southwest over time.

	March 23, 2012 Before and After: The Drought from Above The severe drought in Texas peaked in the summer of 2011, leaving damage that could be seen from space. Satellite images from the United States Geological Survey and aerial photos show just how drastically the drought has altered the landscape of Texas and the American Southwest over time, from dried up lakes to dead trees.

	March 22, 2012 Introducing the PBS NewsHour's Coping With Climate Change Page Our Coping with Climate Change page is here. As temperatures increase and weather patterns shift, we'll be exploring how communities are feeling the impact of climate change. You'll find video reports, blog posts, slide shows and interactive features. We start with Hari Sreenivasan's visit to two drought-stricken Texas towns.

	March 21, 2012 How Aspirin May Help Prevent Certain Kinds of Cancer A daily low dose of aspirin could potentially combat a variety of cancers, according to a series of studies published in the medical journal The Lancet. Ray Suarez discusses the studies and the health benefits and risks of aspirin with Harvard Medical School's Dr. Andrew Chan, who wrote a commentary on the studies.

	March 20, 2012 Two Texas Towns Run Out of Water In collaboration with StateImpact Texas, the PBS NewsHour takes a closer look at the struggle for water in two Texas towns and how the state plans to deal with a drier future. This report is part of our new series Coping with Climate Change.

	March 20, 2012 In Drought-Stricken Texas, Hunt for Water Heads Deeper Underground A year of severe drought has taken its tolls on the estimated 1 million water wells that stretch across Texas. The water table is depleted, and many of the wells are too shallow. And that means more drilling to tap the water deep underground. More in this video.

	March 20, 2012 Coping With Climate Change: Texas Water Woes The drought in Texas has put an unprecedented strain on the state's already tenuous water supply. In the face of continued climate uncertainty and a growing population, Texas communities face the stark reality of a future without enough water.

	March 19, 2012 Planning to Visit the Cherry Blossoms? Err on the Earlier Side Cherry blossoms in Washington, D.C. have bloomed exceptionally early this year, but this is nothing compared to when they might be blooming decades from now. By 2080, cherry blossoms could reach their peak bloom as early as late February, according to Dr. Soo-Hyung Kim of the University of Washington. Hari Sreenivasan reports.

	March 19, 2012 Texas Dispatch: 'Cloud Juice' is One Man's Solution to the Drought In the Texas Hill Country, many rely on rainwater for domestic water needs. As the first of a series of pieces to run this week on the Texas drought, we look at a company that installs rainwater collection systems to residents in this water-parched state. This is part of our ongoing project, Coping with Climate Change.

	March 19, 2012 Sandfish Lizard Slithers into Science Spotlight A lizard may be key to finding survivors buried in rubble. The chiseled body and shovel-shaped head of the Sahara desert sandfish help the lizard slice and swim through sand. Engineers are studying this lizard's movements and building robots based on its physiology that could one day help search and rescue crews find survivors.

	March 19, 2012 Facebook, Twitter Not Dominating News Landscape Just Yet The importance of using social media to promote a news organization's journalism is pretty much a given in any newsroom these days, but as popular as Facebook and Twitter are, they do not seem to be driving as much traffic to news websites as one would think.

	March 15, 2012 Fukushima After the Meltdown How much is too much radiation, and why are Japanese authorities still grappling with that question? That's the subject of the latest blog from our science correspondent Miles O'Brien. We've compiled all of Miles reporting on the Japan quake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown on one easy-to-access page.

	March 15, 2012 Two Hopeful Signs for Americans with Disabilities As the mother of a son with disabilities, I try to keep an eye out for news that affects people in the large community of which he is a part. Today, I spotted two that can potentially spell positive news for the 30 million-plus Americans who have a disability.

	March 14, 2012 Report: NYC, Southern Calif. Among Big Targets of Accelerating Sea Level Rise Accelerated sea level rise from global warming has doubled the risk of extreme flooding events in many of the country's coastal communities, according to a new report released by research organization Climate Central. Ray Suarez and lead author Ben Strauss discuss the connections between climate change and severe flood threats.

	March 14, 2012 Will Your City Be Underwater? There's a Map for That Will your city or county be flooded by 2020? By 2050? Now there's a map for that. As many as 3.7 million U.S. residents in 2,150 coastal areas could be battered by damaging floods caused by global warming-induced storm surges, according to a new report published Wednesday in the journal Environment Research Letters.

	March 14, 2012 Tell Us Your Climate Change Stories A call to submit us your climate observations. Whether it's changes in plants, wildlife, garden insects, weather patterns, or something else entirely, we want to know what you've observed and how these changes have affected your life, regardless of what might be causing them.

	March 13, 2012 Fukushima's Food Fallout: Testing Groceries for Radiation in Japan Promoting produce from Fukushima, a Tokyo store lists the cesium levels beside the price -- just one way life has changed a year after an earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident struck Japan. In the final report in his series, Miles O'Brien examines food-safety concerns and a cottage industry of testing groceries for radiation.

	March 12, 2012 In Oregon, Rare 'Snowstorm' of Pine Butterflies Takes Toll on Forests In Oregon's Malheur National Forest, pine butterflies experience a population explosion for two to three years every three decades. Oregon Public Broadcasting's Oregon Field Guide series explores the snowstorm-like population surge that has stripped needles from 250,000 acres of trees.

	March 12, 2012 After 500 Years in Family, Rice Farmers Forced Off Land by Fukushima One year after an earthquake and tsunami struck Japan, the country is still trying to recover and decontaminate land and buildings from partial meltdowns of three Fukushima nuclear reactors. In his second report from the region, science correspondent Miles O'Brien explores the challenges and possibilities of radiation cleanup.

	March 9, 2012 Fukushima Survivor: 'I've Hardly Smiled This Whole Year' Carl Pillitteri was one of 38 Americans at the Fukushima plant when the earthquake hit. Describing the "demonic" sounds he heard and the pit of fear he felt inside the turbine building that day, Pillteri recently spoke with Alex Chadwick, the host of the new American Public Media series "BURN: An Energy Journal."

	March 9, 2012 Near Fukushima, a Big 'Guessing Game' Over Radiation's Long-Term Risks Sunday marks a year since a massive earthquake and tsunami struck Japan, causing a partial meltdown of nuclear reactors at the Fukushima plants. In the first report in a series on Japan's recovery, Miles O'Brien documents the country's cleanup attempts as scientists decide whether residual radiation could be potentially harmful.

	March 9, 2012 Tracking Japan's Tsunami Debris Although a year has passed since Japan's tsunami sucked tons of debris into the Pacific Ocean, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration continues to track the rubble and urges others to do so to help focus cleanup efforts.

	March 8, 2012 Oregon Farmers Surprised to Find Fish in Fields Researchers in Oregon's Willamette Valley found young native fish thriving in ditches that fill with water during the winter months. The unrecognized habitat meant farmers had been inadvertently raising fish in their fields, in addition to their intended crops, for years. This report first appeared on Oregon Public Broadcasting.

	March 8, 2012 Endangered Animals Say 'Cheese' for Nature Photographer For most portrait photographers, odds that subjects will defecate in front of them, rip their backdrops or charge at the camera tend to be low. But that's a regular day for photographer Joel Sartore, who is on a mission to photograph all of the roughly 6,000 captive species in the United States before some of them disappear.

	March 7, 2012 O No! Climate Change Shortens Canada's Pond Hockey Season In a paper published Monday, researchers determined that climate change across Canada has already had a negative impact on the outdoor skating season, and if that trend continues, the viability of outdoor skating in Canada will be threatened for future generations.

	March 6, 2012 Plants Boldly Go Where They've Never Gone Before Nationwide, gardeners are experimenting with newly assigned plant hardiness zones, using an updated USDA guide that shows which plants will survive the coldest temperatures in any region.

	March 5, 2012 Snow, Cold Hinder Midwest's Recovery Efforts After Tornadoes The National Weather Service confirmed 51 tornadoes across 11 states from Friday into early Saturday, from the Great Lakes spreading south of the Gulf Coast and as far east as Georgia and the Carolinas. Hari Sreenivasan reports on cleanup efforts in Indiana that have been slowed by Monday's snow and low temperatures.

	March 5, 2012 Hans Rosling Brings Life, Humor, Sword-Swallowing to Global Health Statistics Hans Rosling, co-founder of the Gapminder Foundation, visualizes global health trends and population numbers -- transforming dry poverty and development statistics into Internet sensations. In addition to his focus on the developing world and data visualization, the Swede happens to swallow swords. Ray Suarez reports.

	March 2, 2012 Deadly Tornadoes Symptomatic of Strong 'Transition Season' Weather Two Indiana towns were heavily damaged Friday as another round of deadly tornadoes raked the Midwest. Jeffrey Brown discusses the violent weather with Maj. Chuck Adams of the Clark County Sheriff's Department in Southern Indiana and meteorologist Greg Carbin of the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center.

	March 1, 2012 Coral Sex Just Got a Little More Interesting A team of Australian scientists has found that when exposed to turbulence, many coral embryos will break into genetically identical pieces, each with the ability to develop into its own fully functioning organism.



	FEBRUARY Feb. 28, 2012 When the Ocean Gets Choppy, Corals Clone A team of Australian scientists have that corals can clone in a similar way that humans eggs split to create identical twins.

	Feb. 27, 2012 The Healing Power of Music An unconventional approach to recovery and coping, music therapy is a field of medicine capturing new attention due to its role in helping Gabrielle Giffords recover from a gunshot. Correspondent Spencer Michels reports on the versatility of music in a medical setting, but the difficulty of quantifying its effectiveness.

	Feb. 27, 2012 Just Ask: Could Sonar Be Responsible for Cape Cod Dolphin Strandings? Nearly 180 dolphins have been found stranded this winter on the shores of Cape Cod.

	Feb. 23, 2012 Upper Big Branch Miners' Families 'Encouraged' by Prosecutors' Moves West Virginia mine safety officials on Thursday issued 253 violations against Massey Energy in their final report on the 2010 Upper Big Branch mining disaster that killed 29 men. Jeffrey Brown and NPR's Howard Berkes discuss the findings and prosecution efforts to reach higher into the ranks of Massey's upper management.

	Feb. 23, 2012 Ballots of Yore: A History Lesson in Voting Technology From clunky polling machines to the famous butterfly ballot, internet voting isn't the only ballot technology that's been fraught with problems. Political historian and curator William Bird provides us with a glimpse of various American voting systems through time and the problems they've encountered.

	Feb. 22, 2012 To Kill Parasites, Fruit Flies Self Medicate With Alcohol A new study published last week in the journal Current Biology shows that fruit flies infected by parasitic have the ability to self medicate, seeking out alcohol to kill off these parasites.

	Feb. 21, 2012 Climate Expert Assumed False Identity to Obtain Documents Fallout over internal memos that were leaked from the conservative Heartland Institute rattled the climate world again this week, when a climate researcher confessed to lying in order to obtain and distribute them.

	Feb. 20, 2012 50 Years Later, Astronaut John Glenn Recounts His Historic Mission in Space Fifty years ago, NASA astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth, despite numerous glitches. Judy Woodruff and Glenn discuss how the historic mission changed the space race.

	Feb. 16, 2012 Internet Voting: Will Democracy or Hackers Win? While it seems like everything can be done online these days, that's not actually the case when it comes to elections. Science correspondent Miles O'Brien explores the security, logistical and secrecy challenges of Internet voting.

	Feb. 16, 2012 Marine Experts Flummoxed by Mass Dolphin Strandings Scientists and volunteers respond to stranded dolphins on the shores of Cape Cod.

	Feb. 15, 2012 Debating the Safety, Wisdom of New Nuclear Reactors in Georgia A construction site in Georgia is slated to house the nation's first new commercial nuclear reactors in decades. Jeffrey Brown discusses the controversial Plant Vogtle facility and the state of American nuclear power with Stephen Smith of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy and the Nuclear Energy Institute's Tony Pietrangelo.

	Feb. 14, 2012 Poet Tony Hoagland Explores Species' 'Romantic Moments' In honor of Valentine's Day, poet Tony Hoagland reads "Romantic Moment" -- a poem about a man and woman who have just watched a nature documentary on a date, and how their expressions of affection stack up against those of leopard frogs, chimpanzees, bull penguins and so on.

	Feb. 14, 2012 Broken Heart Syndrome: Yes, It's Real Broken hearts seem to be on the upswing these days. That's in strictly clinical terms: More doctors are diagnosing a condition that literally stuns the heart after a profound emotional shock.

	Feb. 13, 2012 Animated Map Plots One Year of Quakes We recently stumbled on this animated map that plots all of 2011's earthquakes that registered above magnitude 6. Each circle represents an earthquake -- the bigger the circle, the greater the magnitude.

	Feb. 9, 2012 Russians Drill Into Ancient Lake in Coldest Spot on Earth After decades drilling through more than two miles of ice in the coldest spot on Earth, Russian scientists announced this week that they reached their goal: a subglacial lake the size of Lake Ontario, which has been sealed off from the world for as long as 20 million years.

	Feb. 6, 2012 Hunter's Moons: Astronomers Use Kepler Spacecraft to Search for Exomoons Astronomers have discovered a trove of exoplanets--more than 700 worlds in orbit around distant stars, with leads on thousands of additional suspects.

	Feb. 2, 2012 In Earthquakes, 'Liquefied' Ground Can Topple Buildings, Swallow Cars On Wednesday's NewsHour broadcast, we aired an excerpt of a "NOVA" piece about a dense trove of ice age fossils found near Colorado's Snowmass Ski Resort. One theory is that these animals were snuffed out by a phenomenon called liquefaction, which can strike during an earthquake.

	Feb. 2, 2012 Facebook Moves to Sell Stock and Go Public Facebook, the place where 800 million people share photos, dating status, likes and dislikes, has taken the first steps towards becoming a public company, which means that soon anyone with enough cash can own a share of Facebook itself.

	Feb. 1, 2012 'A Flintstone Moment': Mammoth Amount of Ice Age Fossils Found in Colorado Wednesday's "NOVA" looks at an unexpected discovery near a Rocky Mountain ski resort: thousands of bones from ice age mammals, including mammoths, ground sloths and mastodons. Hari Sreenivasan speaks with Kirk Johnson of Denver Museum of Nature and Science about the dig and ongoing research into the animals' mysterious deaths.



	JANUARY Jan. 30, 2012 Hans Rosling Brings Life, Humor, Sword-Swallowing to Global Health Statistics Hans Rosling, co-founder of the Gapminder Foundation, visualizes global health trends and population numbers -- transforming dry poverty and development statistics into Internet sensations. In addition to his focus on the developing world and data visualization, the Swede happens to swallow swords. Ray Suarez reports.

	Jan. 30, 2012 Experts Weigh in on Bird Flu Research The Newshour asked three experts to weigh in on the bird flu research debate.

	Jan. 30, 2012 Electronic Tissue Monitors Brain, Heart and Muscles Scientists are trying to develop tissue-like electronics that conform better to human organs. Elastic electronics, they call it.

	Jan. 26, 2012 How Do You Spot a Black Hole? Look for Its 'Burp' Last week, a team of astronomers met in Arizona to discuss ambitious plans to see the unseeable. Using data pulled from a group of ground-based telescopes and assembled by a supercomputer, their plan is to capture, for the first time, an image of a black hole.

	Jan. 24, 2012 Solar Storm Swipes Earth, But No Immediate Damage On Sunday, a gigantic solar flare erupted from out of the sun and began charging toward Earth at millions of miles an hour. But so far, no major damage reported.

	Jan. 23, 2012 Marcia Coyle: Court Moves 'Carefully' to Balance Rights in GPS Ruling The Supreme Court's decision Monday -- saying police must have a warrant before attaching a GPS tracker to vehicles -- shows the court "wants to move carefully" in weighing the privacy rights of individuals against law enforcement's need for information in criminal investigations, according to legal analyst Marcia Coyle.

	Jan. 20, 2012 Bird Flu Studies Temporarily Paused, Journals Announce Last year, questions were raised over how much research on the dangerous H5N1 virus -- or avian flu -- should be published in scientific journals. H5N1 is not yet transmissible among humans, though scientists have created a strain that can pass between ferrets.

	Jan. 19, 2012 Rejected Keystone XL Pipeline Project at Top of Congress' Agenda House Democrats and Republicans picked up where they left off at the end of 2011, bickering about the creation of jobs or the lack thereof. President Obama rejected the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline that Republicans said would create more than 20,000 jobs.

	Jan. 19, 2012 Darwin Fossils Released From Hiding In April 2011, Howard Falcon-Lang, a paleobotanist, was sifting through old collections in a poorly-lit storeroom at the British Geological Society, when he reached into a dark cabinet and pulled out a fossil with a signature that looked an awful lot like Charles Darwin's.

	Jan. 18, 2012 Rediscovering Charles Darwin Last spring, a British scientist reached into the back of a cabinet and pulled out a fossil with a signature that looked an awful lot like Charles Darwin's. Turns out it was. Here is a sample of the fossils, which include seeds, extinct tree samples and fungus crushed into glass panels.

	Jan. 18, 2012 Could Keystone Pipeline Plan Be Revived After Obama's Rejection? President Obama denied TransCanada Corp.'s application to build the Keystone XL pipeline Wednesday, a project that would have carried oil 1,700 miles from the tar sands of Canada to refineries in Port Arthur, Texas. Hari Sreenivasan discusses the president's decision and the next steps with The Washington Post's Juliet Eilperin.

	Jan. 18, 2012 SOPA Blackouts Reaction and Resources What pro- and anti-SOPA backers say about the SOPA/PIPA blackout day and five resources to learn more about it.

	Jan. 17, 2012 After Fallout of Fukushima, 'Frontline' Explores Nuclear Energy's Future NewsHour science correspondent Miles O'Brien traveled to three continents to examine the safety and future of nuclear energy in the wake of last spring's Fukushima reactor disaster in Japan. In this excerpt from Tuesday's edition of "Frontline," O'Brien visits the Indian Point Power Plant in Buchanan, N.Y.

	Jan. 16, 2012 Tracking Firefighters Through the Smoke Locating a missing person inside a burning building filled with blinding smoke can be tricky and extremely dangerous.

	Jan. 12, 2012 Domain Names: Debating the Effects of a Dot-Anything World ICANN, the company that assigns what are called domain names for the Web is making a big change and rolling out a program to dramatically increase the number and kind of names available. However, that could prove to be a costly endeavor for some businesses. Ray Suarez leads a debate over the effects of the new rules.

	Jan. 12, 2012 Giant Galaxy Cluster, Blue Stars and Cosmic Explosions In the far-flung distant universe, 7 billion light years away, a super galaxy cluster has been discovered by an international team of scientists. It's the most massive, hottest, brightest galaxy cluster ever seen, and so astonishingly enormous that it's been dubbed El Gordo -- Spanish for "the fat one."

	Jan. 12, 2012 Galaxy Clusters, Blue Stars and Cosmic Explosions Skywatchers gathered in Austin, Texas, this week at the 219th American Astronomical Society meeting. Here's a look at some of the most exciting interstellar space findings, and the images that accompany them.

	Jan. 11, 2012 Shedding Light on Early Cancer Detection Vadim Backman, a biomedical engineer at Northwestern University is working to develop less invasive cancer detection procedures.

	Jan. 10, 2012 North Carolina Moves to Compensate People Sterilized Against Their Will Roughly 7,600 people were sterilized in North Carolina against their will between 1929 and 1974. A state panel voted Tuesday to pay the victims $50,000 each. Ray Suarez discusses the history of the program and the panel's decision with Charmaine Fuller-Cooper of the North Carolina Justice for Sterilization Victims Foundation.

	Jan. 9, 2012 How Has Stephen Hawking Lived to 70 with ALS? An expert on Lou Gehrig's disease explains what we know about this debilitating condition and how Hawking has beaten the odds.

	Jan. 5, 2012 Honey, I Blew Up the Ants Researchers have found that with the right formula, they can induce otherwise normal ants to develop into a supersized version called a supersoldier. The finding was released on Thursday in the journal Science.

	Jan. 5, 2012 Ants, Supersized Researchers have found they can activate the development of supersized "supersoldier" ants. The study is published in the journal Science on Thursday. Here are some photos of pheidole ants, captured by biologist and photographer Alexander Wild, who studies the evolutionary history of insects.

	Jan. 4, 2012 Under the Sea Near Antarctica, 'a Riot of Life' Discovered in Super-Heated Water Scientists discovered many new species on the floor of the Southern Ocean near Antarctica -- something they're describing as a "riot of life." Jeffrey Brown speaks with former oceanographer Mark Schrope about the newest known species of sea life found around hydrothermal vents.

	Jan. 2, 2012 It's Not Mind-Reading, but Scientists Exploring How Brains Perceive the World It's not mind-reading, but some cutting-edge scientific research could reconstruct brain activity. Jake Schoneker, a recent graduate of the University of California, Berkeley's School of Journalism, and producer Roberto Daza report.

	Jan. 2, 2012 Twin NASA Probes Circling Moon, Hoping to Answer Questions About Core On New Year's Eve, the first of two NASA spacecraft fired its engine and maneuvered into orbit around the moon, following a three-month, 2.5-million-mile journey. Its twin probe followed suit 25 hours later. The two washing-machine sized satellites are designed to map the surface and interior of the moon.